


Secrets

by colemsprouse_lilipreinhart



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anxiety, Bad Parenting, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, High School, M/M, Photographer Jughead Jones, REALLY slow, Self-Harm, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2020-09-06 18:35:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 94,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20296087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colemsprouse_lilipreinhart/pseuds/colemsprouse_lilipreinhart
Summary: Betty Cooper struggles with mental health, but has no support from her family. The only one who knows all her secrets, is Jughead Jones. They fall in love, but there are many complications from both sides. Will their love survive even when their lives are threatened? Or will they choose the easy way and never speak with each other again?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!  
This first chapter is more like an introduction, my other chapters will be longer.  
This is my first story ever and I hope you'll like it! I'm gonna put a disclaimer right here and I'll add notes at the beginning of every chapter. I hope you have fun reading my story! I don't know when I'll be posting new parts, but we'll see.
> 
> Disclaimer:
> 
> I have never been in a relationship or stuggled with mental health, so my 'experience' comes from reading other fan-fictions. In no way I mean to offend anyone, I'm sorry if you do feel offended by something.  
I'm not English, so I apologize for any mistakes.  
Also, this is going to be a long one, I already have it finished and it has 26 chapters. So if you're looking for a short story, don't start reading mine ;)
> 
> My fanaccount on Instagram is @colemsprouse_lilipreinhart and I also made an account especially for this story, it's Jughead's photography account which will be mentioned a couple of times. Even though the name of the account doesn't come up until chapter 14, I thought I'd put it here. It's @j.jonesviewoftheworld

“Betty, don’t be afraid, it’ll be okay.”

As he was about to say more, I heard an annoying beeping sound. I woke with a shock. It was my alarm, same as always. This was the fourth night in a row that I’d had the same dream; a gorgeous boy, black haired with blue eyes. Special but beautiful combination. Sadly though, my alarm always went off just as he was about to say something. Guess I’d never know what he wanted to say. I got up and got dressed, pastel pink blouse and jeans. Then I put my hair in a ponytail and went downstairs. My parents, Polly and Charles were already up and making the table. Mom was cooking bacon and eggs.

“Morning Betty, can you grab the plates?” Charles asked me. So I did and then sat down. Mom put a little bacon and eggs on my plate and we had breakfast together, just as every morning.

“A new family came to Riverdale, two parents and two children, a boy and a girl. The boy’s your age Betty.” My mom was always trying to make conversation, even though no one else felt the need to talk in the morning and she knew it. So I didn’t reply, hoping she’d let it go.

“I heard that they come from Chicago, but from the lower class area. So they’re apparently not very rich. Principal Weatherbee asked me if I wanted to ask you, Betty, to give the boy a tour, but I said no. You can’t be seen with someone form a lower class, it’ll ruin our good reputation.” My mom thought that money was everything, and so did my dad and siblings. With that I was different from them, with a lot I was different from them actually. My family was shallow and only cared about looks and status. I didn’t care about my looks necessarily, but my mom always bought my clothes so I’d look good. After breakfast, I went upstairs to brush my teeth and get my bag. Then I walked to school with my siblings. Again, we didn’t talk much. Talking was not really something we do in our family, except for casual conversations. Not much emotion was expressed. Just before we arrived at school, I heard someone calling my name. I looked around, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. Then suddenly someone was hanging of my neck in a tight hug.

“Oh my god, I’ve missed you!” Veronica, my best friend, shouted. I laughed.

“It’s only been two days since I last saw you, silly.” My siblings kept walking and left me behind to catch up with my bestie.

“Oh, I know, but I still missed you.” Veronica was very different from me, she cared about her looks, but unlike my family she was more than that. Her parents split up when she was young and she and her mom moved from New York to Riverdale. We instantly became friends and then best friends. She blended in with my friend group like she belonged there. I say group, but it’s actually only 4 other people besides me and Veronica. First Archie, my childhood crush, a redheaded boy and a jock. Also a musician. Then there’s Kevin, my boy best friend and he’s gay. He’s the clown of the group and always manages to lighten every mood. Cheryl, who was, like Archie, a redhead. She’s someone you want to have as a friend, because she can be a real bitch. To us, she’s really nice though. And lastly, Cheryl’s girlfriend Toni, a girl with pink highlights and who’s very sweet. Toni has only just joined our ‘group’ so I don’t know much about her yet. We’re kind of the popular group, or at least that’s what people think. I don’t consider myself popular, I’m way too average for that in my opinion. On our way to class, Veronica said to me:

“So Archie and I hung out this Saturday, after his game.” That surprised me, because Veronica has always said that she doesn’t date redheads. I must’ve looked surprised, because she said:

“Don’t look at me like that. We’re just friends and I don’t intend on it becoming anything more. As if you never hang out with him or Kevin.”

“You can’t blame me for thinking there might be something going on. It’s not like you haven’t dated a guy before.” Since we got in junior year, which has been three months, Veronica had been on dates with three different guys. None of them have stayed around though.

“True, but Archie and I will never become something more than friends. He’s too perfect for me, I would spend all my time worrying about losing him to another girl.” Even though Veronica was beauty itself with dark hair, dark eyes, a perfect face and a perfectly shaped body, she was not very confident. I’ve always wondered why not. 

“We could bet on it?” I said teasingly. She gave me a look. As we walked into class, she elbowed me in my ribs, a little too harsh. “Ow, careful!”

“Shh, look in the back of the class. A new kid.” She whispered at me. As I looked towards the back of the class, I saw him too and my heart stopped. He had black hair, or at least the hair that was visible from under a grey beanie was, and had blue eyes. He looked exactly like the boy from my dream. As my heartbeat picked up again, I whispered:

“I have to tell you something after class, it’s important. Don’t ask any questions now though.” She heard the urgency in my voice so she didn’t say anything. We sat down at our place. During class I kept looking over my shoulder at the new boy, hoping his hair or eyes would suddenly change, because I couldn’t explain to myself what this boy would be doing in my dreams night after night. But every time I looked, he was the same. Dressed in dark jeans, a dark T-shirt with an ‘S’ on it, on top of that a denim coloured Sherpa jacket. On top of his black hair was a grey, kind of crown shaped beanie. He looked angry, or at least annoyed, every time I looked at him, like he was mad at something. I couldn’t understand why though. He was one big mystery. Then I remembered what my mom had said at breakfast, about a new family. This boy must be one of them. When class ended, Veronica and I quickly packed our bags and went to the bathroom.

“You looked like you saw a ghost, tell me what’s up.” Veronica said. I sighed.

“So the past four nights I’ve been having the same dream, always being interrupted by my alarm at the same time. In that dream I’m with a boy, and that boy looks exactly the same as that new boy in our class. I’ve never seen him before and I have no idea what this means. It’s just really weird.” Veronica looked at me, as confused as I was myself.

“So you’ve been dreaming of this boy, who you’ve never met before? That’s weird indeed. But what now?”

“My mom told me I couldn’t hang out with him, his family is lower class. ‘It’ll ruin our good reputation’, she said. Ugh, she’s so prejudiced, it’s annoying. It also kind of makes me want to get to know him even more, even if only just to annoy my mother.”

“Let’s just see what he does in the break, if he looks lost, we’ll invite him over. Deal?”

“Deal. Now we have to go to trig.”

In the break we sat with our group at our regular table. I was looking out for the new boy. So was Veronica. Then I saw him, and he walked a bit slowly to a table where no one else was sitting. Sitting down, he put on headphones and started reading a book. He also pulled out a huge burger from his bag. I looked at Veronica, not sure what to do.

“Just ask if he wants to join. That couldn’t hurt right?”

“Maybe he wants to sit alone? I don’t know, I just don’t want to push him or anything.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Archie asked. I opened my mouth to say ‘nothing’, but Veronica was quicker.

“We’re deliberating whether or not we should invite that new boy to our table, as he’s sitting all alone.”

“My mom said he also has a sister, maybe he’s waiting for her. We should just leave him, V.” I tried, wasted energy, to convince Veronica to not say anything to that boy. I felt awkward because of my dreams. 

“Just asking couldn’t hurt though, right?” Archie said. And he was right, I knew that, but I still didn’t want to go talk to him, definitely not alone. Veronica read my face and said:

“We’ll go together. Come on, B.” And she pulled me from the bench.

“No V! Let go!” But my scream drew his attention to us and there was no way back as our eyes met. We walked towards him and I saw his face going into that grimace that he also had the first time I saw him. It made me even more nervous. Then we stood in front of him. Veronica looked at me to say something, but saw I was incapable of speaking at that point.

“Hi. I’m Veronica and this is Betty. We noticed you sitting alone and we wanted to invite you to sit with us.” She pointed at the table where our friends were sitting. The boy looked at us, confused.

“Only if you want, if you’re waiting for your sister or something, that’s fine too.” I said. The boy looked at me confused, the boy even more confused than before. Then I realized my slip; how would I know that he had a sister…

“I don’t know you guys, but apparently you know me. I’m not interested in socializing though, thank you.” The boy said, bitterly. 

“Can we at least hear your name?” Veronica asked, still hoping he’d join us.

“You don’t know that?” I shook my head, and he continued, “So you know stuff about my family, but you don’t know my name. Well, if you really want to know, Jughead Jones.” He shrugged, put on his headphones again and picked up reading. So the conversation was over I guess. Veronica shrugged at me and we walked back to our table.

“Jughead Jones, weird name. Also weird boy. I like him.” Veronica said. I looked at her, and then gave her a look. Veronica was so open about everything and so quick to judge, positive and negative. I usually took my time to judge people, so my judgement would have ground. I couldn’t deny the fact that this boy was intriguing though. I wanted to get to know the person behind the tough outside. I had no idea how, so I tried to force the thought out of my brain.

“Jughead…” I said thoughtful. I looked at Veronica and she laughed out loud. I quickly joined her. We arrived at our table laughing, which made the others look at us confused. A lot of people were confused these past two minutes, and that thought made me laugh even more. 

“What’s so funny? I wanna laugh too.” Kevin said, jokingly complaining.

“Betty was just being funny.” Veronica giggled. 

“So I guess that boy didn’t want to join us? To be honest, I’m not surprised. He looks like that brooding, loner type to me.” Archie said.

“His name is Jughead.” Veronica told him, as she sat down on his lap. I gave her a look and she winked at me. There wasn’t a free spot on the bench anymore, so I casually sat down on Kevin’s lap. I stole one quick glance at the boy and caught him staring at me. Or us. As our eyes met, he quickly looked away and continued reading. The rest of the break and the day at school went by easy. After school, Veronica came up to me.

“Can we do homework together today? I feel like I won’t understand much, it’s all going so quickly.” I’ve known her long enough to know she just wanted to talk about stuff, probably about Jughead.

“Sure, let me just quickly call my mother.” As I searched for my phone, I heard someone calling my name.

“Betty! You’re coming?” It was my sister, Polly. She and Charles were waiting for the bus, probably too lazy to walk. I walked to them.

“I’m actually going to Veronica’s, could you tell mom? If she’s not okay with it, she can call me and I’ll come home.” Polly nodded and I walked away, back to Veronica. We got in her car. She was always being picked up by the personal driver of her family. We didn’t talk much in the car, because everything we said, the driver would tell Veronica’s parents. Once at her house, we instantly went to her room. 

“So, this boy Jughead. He made me interested. I really want to get to know him, but he seems so closed off. I really want to get to know him, but I have no idea how. That’s why I need you. You always get everyone to open up, could you please help me, B?” She looked at me pleadingly. To be honest, I could picture the two of them together, two black haired people. Weirdly though, it hurt to picture them together.

“Sure, I’ll help you.” Veronica threw her arms around me and squealed enthusiastically. “What do you want me to do though?”

“Just try to talk to him tomorrow, alone and then try to get him to join us at our table. Then I’ll get the chance to talk to him.”  
We spend the rest of the afternoon making a plan on how to get Veronica and Jughead together. I couldn’t put my whole heart into it though as I usually would. After dinner with the Lodges, I went home, played a quick game with my family and then excused myself to do some homework. After that, I went to sleep and had the same dream as the four nights before.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning, self-harm is in this chapter. Yeah, Betty is quite damaged.  
Also, possible Jughead and Veronica relationship? That wasn't the plan... ;)

The next morning was pretty much the same as always. I walked to school with my siblings and then went to class. No Veronica jumping me this time. As I walked inside the classroom, I didn’t see Veronica at our usual spot. That was weird, because she’s always earlier at school than me and I wasn’t particularly early or something. As I scanned the room, I saw her sitting next to Kevin. She nodded her head to the back of the class, where there was still an empty seat next to Jughead. I now had to choose, either sit next to Jughead or sit down alone, which would look weird to a lot of people. So I walked to the back of the class.

“Mind if I sit here? Veronica bailed on me.” He shrugged, so I sat down. I thought I heard him say something like ‘nice friend’ under his breath, but I pretended not to have heard it. Then the teacher started to explain an assignment we would have to do, in duos. He paired us up, or basically told us to work together with our neighbour. I looked at Jughead, who at the same time looked at me. 

“So I guess we’re partners then.” He said. I couldn’t hear whether he was excited, disappointed or something else. As always, he was a mystery.

“I guess we are.” I answered in the same tone. He smiled a quick, small smile. 

“So shall we work on everything together or each do our own part?”

“We might as well work on everything together, don’t you think?” The truth was that I didn’t know how he was in school and I couldn’t get a low grade for this assignment, it would ruin my perfect list and the only way to make sure it would be great, was to work on everything together.

“Sure, shall we start today or is that too enthusiastically?” 

“Today is fine, we might as well get this over with.” As I said it, I realized that it sounded quite mean. “I don’t mean it like that, I just mean that it makes no sense to keep procrastinating –” 

“Don’t worry, I get what you mean.” Then I thought of an easy way to get him to join our table.

“We might as well brainstorm about it this break? Will you join me?”

He looked like he understood my ‘trap’, but nodded anyway. Then the bell rang and I went over to Veronica. I smiled and nodded at her, a silent way of saying he’ll join us at our table. She smiled happily and then flashed a smile in Jughead’s direction. 

On my way to our table in the break, someone suddenly grabbed my arm. I looked behind me and saw Jughead, looking slightly panicked.

“What’s wrong? You look kinda scared.”

“I just never really talk to people, that way no one can form a judgement. When I talk to people, they usually don’t like me. I don’t know if it’s such a smart idea for me to join you and your friends. I don’t want to push myself on them, you know?” He looked really scared, it made me sad. He’s probably been through way more than anyone will ever know.

“My friends and I never really hate someone, it’ll be fine. Otherwise I’ll stand up for you. Or Veronica will. She really wants to get to know you, you know.” I was proud of myself, because I detected a little bit of hope on his face. He took a deep breath, and then walked with me. 

“Hey guys, this is Jughead and he will be joining us today. We’ve got to discuss stuff about our History assignment.” Everyone mumbled a greeting and then continued their conversation. Next to Veronica was a free spot and across from that next to Kevin. Cheryl and Toni weren’t there yet and neither was Archie. I sat down next to Kevin, so Jughead had to sit next to Veronica. She smiled thankfully at me. I smiled back. As I sat down, I got my one sandwich with lettuce and tomato and started eating. Jughead looked at me as if he was seeing something really weird. The he opened his bag and got out a huge burger. He smirked at me and I understood now why he looked at me weird. His burger was six times bigger than my sandwich. 

“My mom prepares my lunch, I’ve gotta watch my weight she says.” I defended my lonely, small sandwich.

“Why? What’s wrong with your body?” Jughead asked with his mouth full of burger.

“Yeah, I still don’t get it B, there’s nothing wrong with your body, you’re beautiful.” Veronica said. I blushed and looked away.

“There’s nothing wrong yet…” I said quietly. “But let’s talk about our assignment. I was thinking we could write it about Riverdale’s history?”

“No way, that’s so basic. Let’s write about the origin of literature. How it developed into what it is nowadays. I already know a lot about it, I could probably write like ten pages, just from memory. It’s really interesting too. Did you know that a long time ago books weren’t for everyone? Just for priests, and the only book existing was the Bible. Pleasure books didn’t come until not so long ago.” He got so enthusiastic that I couldn’t say no.

“Sure, origin of literature it is then.”

Then Veronica started a conversation with him and I joined Kevin and Archie’s (who had just arrived) conversation. Cheryl and Toni remained unseen the entire break, they were probably making out in an empty classroom. Just before the bell rang, I stopped Jughead.

“So do you wanna go to my place or shall we go to yours? To work on our assignment.”

“Your place? No one’s home at my place, so that’s a bit boring.” Then I thought of the hatred my mom expressed about his family the day before. 

“I’ll have to call my mom to ask if that’s alright, I’ll let you know after school okay? If you’ll just wait for me, let’s say, at the front exit?”

“Sure. Otherwise we can just go sit at Pop’s or something.”

“Yeah, good point. I’ll first ask my mom though.” He nodded and then the bell rang so we all went our own direction, Veronica with me.

“He is amazing! He’s so intelligent and also quite good looking, you know! Thank you so much, B, for getting him to join us! I think we might actually become something.” She always got a bit ahead of herself, but she sounded so happy. I was happy for her, but still a little piece of me felt a bit of jealousy. I forced it out of my mind. She deserved her happiness, I wouldn’t be the one to steal it from her. I was excited though, to spend some one on one time with Jughead this afternoon. 

After school I called my mom.

“Hey Betty, what’s up? Something wrong?”

“Hey mom, nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to ask you something. My history teacher gave us an assignment to work on in duos and he paired me with Jughead Jones, that new boy. Is it okay if he comes over to work on it?” I hoped she would agree, because how could I explain to Jughead that my mom hates him based on him being lower class and that that’s why we can’t go to my house? Exactly, I can’t.

“Only if you’ll be sitting downstairs and when you’re done working on it, he’ll have to go home. Or let’s say, he needs to go home before dinner.” I was pleasantly surprised. 

“Sure mom, no problem. See you in a bit.” Then she hung up.  
As I was sitting on the staircase before the front exit waiting for Jughead, I suddenly was pushed forward and then pulled back again, so I wouldn’t actually fall. I screamed though and then heard someone laughing behind me. When I looked behind me, I saw Kevin. 

“Sorry, it was too tempting not to do. Are you okay?”

“Geez, Kev, don’t ever do that again! You almost gave me a heart attack!” I laughed. Then I got up.

“You waiting for someone?”

“Yeah, Jughead. We’re going to work on our History assignment.”

“Ah, well, have fun then! I’ll see you tomorrow!” Kevin gave me a hug and then walked away.

“Bye!” I yelled after him. Then as I turned around, I saw Jughead looking at me. I walked up to him.

“My mom is okay with you coming over. Before dinner you have to leave though, we always have dinner with just the family.” I smiled at him.

“That must be nice. I never have dinner with my family.” He said. Then we started walking to my house.

“What do you mean you never have dinner with your family?”

He looked a bit uncomfortable, but spoke anyway. “Well, my dad’s usually out working late and my sister spends most of her days and nights at friend’s houses. My mom hates to cook, so we usually just get take-out. To be honest, it makes me a little sad. We never have family time you know? Okay, that sounds silly, forget I said anything.” I could tell he felt nervous, or maybe a bit awkward. Again, it was a mystery.

“It doesn’t sound silly, I would be quite sad if we wouldn’t have those family dinners. I’d also miss all the games we play. I have quite a lot of family time, and I wouldn’t wanna miss it for the world. It always brings me joy. Even the fights, I don’t mind them, because when we make up, I’m reminded of how strong we are.” As I was talking, I realized I was only telling the good parts. This way it sounded like my family was basically perfect, but it was far from that.

“We rarely have fights. Well, my sister and I do whenever she’s home. My mom thinks that that’s the reason why she’s always gone. I don’t believe that though.” I could tell from the way he spoke that there was so much more to that story, but I didn’t want to push him any further. So I changed the subject.

“So our assignment, with what will we start? I’m now deciding that you’re in charge, so tell me what to do boss.” He looked at me thankfully and then we discussed on what to do until we arrived at my house. He looked up and I could tell he was impressed, even though my house wasn’t that special. It made me a little sad, because if he was impressed by my house, what must he be used to? I didn’t say anything though. Once we were inside, I got us both a drink and then quickly went upstairs to get my laptop. When I came downstairs again, he was sitting at the dining table, waiting for me. I sat down next to him and we started working. As we were working, Polly and Charles arrived home, but both quickly excused themselves and went upstairs. My mom was working in the study, so we didn’t see her until she came out to start cooking dinner. She gave me a warning look and then I realized Jughead and I were sitting quite close to each other. I moved away a bit.

“Let’s call it a day. Tomorrow we can work on it some more, but I actually think we’re almost done, aren’t we?” Jughead looked at me like I was crazy.

“There’s so much more we can write about! We’re not close to being done, young lady. We’re gonna need this whole week if we’ll keep going at this rate.”

“This rate? We’ve worked really hard today!”

“Hard, yes. Long, no. That’s what I meant. But sure, we’ll continue tomorrow. Thanks Mrs. Cooper, for letting me come over.” My mom shrugged, but didn’t say anything. His tone made me think though that he knew, or at least guessed, that my mom didn’t like him. Maybe his parents had informed him too. Then he got up and I was quick to follow. I walked him to the door.

“So I guess you’ll be having take-out again tonight?”

“Probably. Hey, do you think maybe you could convince your mom to let me stay for dinner later this week? That way we can work after dinner too and then it’ll be done quicker. Not that I don’t like working with you, but–”

“No, I get what you mean. Sure, I’ll ask her. I’d quite like that too, to be honest.” We smiled at each other.

“Veronica likes me, doesn’t she” He suddenly asked. It came so unexpected that I didn’t have the time to think my answer through.

“Yeah, she does.” Then I realized what I’d just said, and my hand flew to my mouth. “You didn’t hear that. Please say you didn’t.”

“I’d like to say I didn’t, to please you, but I was raised not to lie.”

“Please give her a chance. I’ve not before seen her this happy about a boy. She really wants to try for you.”

“I’ll be open-minded. Goodnight now, Betty. Your dinner is ready.” Then I heard my mom calling too.

“Coming mom! Goodnight, Jughead.” Then he walked away and I walked back inside. After dinner, my mom had luckily not said anything about Jughead, I called Veronica.

“Hey girl, what’s up? How was your afternoon with Jughead? Did you talk about me?”

“Well, we mostly worked on our assignment, as planned. But then as he was about to leave, I slipped up.”

“What happened?” I could hear the eagerness in her voice.

“Well, he caught me off guard by suddenly asking if you like him and my oh-so-tactical reply was ‘Yeah, she does’. I hoped for a second that he hadn’t heard it, but he had. Sorry V.”

“What did he say next?” She didn’t sound upset, just eager as before.

“Well, I told him to give you a chance and that you’re willing to try hard for him and then he said, literal quote, ‘I’ll be open-minded’.”

“Well, that’s nice. That at least gives me a chance now, doesn’t it? What was his expression like during that conversation?”

“Like a mystery, as always. You still have a shot though, V. So let’s see what he does tomorrow during the break, I guess that will tell a bit about what he wants.”

“Yeah, I think so too. Goodnight B, see you tomorrow.” She gave me a kiss through her phone.

“Goodnight V.”

The next day in history, I sat next to Jughead again. We got some time to work on our assignment, but we didn’t have a laptop, so there wasn’t much we could do. So we talked about it a bit and decided what we would be doing that afternoon. Then I asked him:

“So this break, will you join us again?” I couldn’t stop myself, I just had to know.

“You’d want that?” He asked, smirking at me.

“Well, yeah, sure, the more the merrier. And Veronica would like it too I think.” I smiled back.

“Well then, sure. I’ll be there.” Then the bell rang and I told Veronica the good news. Of course, she wanted a literal recap of our conversation.  
I was a bit later than usual from my last class before the break, so everyone was already sitting and there was no free spot. I saw Jughead and Veronica sitting at the far end of the table, across from each other, talking. Toni was already sitting on Cheryl’s lap and I decided to sit on Kevin’s again. I gave Jughead a quick smile and then started talking with the others, leaving him and Veronica in their own little bubble. Jughead and I only shared a little laugh when I took out my single sandwich again and he his burger. When the bell rang and I got up to pull Veronica with me, Jughead asked me:

“So have you asked your mom if I can stay for dinner yet? Then I can tell my mom.”

“No, not yet. Sorry, I forgot. I’ll text her right now and let you know after school okay?”

“Sure. See you then.” Then we each went out own way. The second Jughead was out of earshot, Veronica started talking happily to me about how awesome Jughead was and how happy she was that she got to talk to him and how much she loved me for making it possible. I just let her talk. After school I walked outside and saw Jughead and Veronica talking. 

“Hey, Jughead, my mom is okay with you staying for dinner tomorrow. Is that okay?”

“Hey, Betty, yeah sure. Hey, uhm, is it okay if I go to Veronica’s today? Then we’ll work on our assignment tomorrow?” I tried really hard to conceal my disappointment, and I think I succeeded.

“Sure, you two have fun!” I smiled at them, and when Veronica smiled back at me, I realized I’d not often before seen her this happy and that made me happy. They got in her car together, while talking. My siblings were already home, so I walked home alone, feeling even more alone than I was. I felt stood up, but then I banished that thought from my mind and told myself that I was overreacting. I had been suffering mentally for quite a while, because my mom always pushed me so hard to be perfect. Sometimes it was too much and I had found my escape in self-harm. Not that I was proud of it, but it felt like the only solution. That night I cut myself in my arm, for being such a baby about the whole situation. Jughead wasn’t for me, he was Veronica’s, he was meant to be with Veronica. I could see it, but it made me sad too. My hands balled into fists, so tight that my nails dug into the skin there.

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit.” I walked into the bathroom and cleaned my cuts. I hated myself even more than before. As I was cleaning my cuts, I kept telling myself that of course Jughead wouldn’t choose me, because I was not beautiful enough, not smart enough, not interesting enough. And Veronica was all of that. Of course he’d pick her over me. I was being stupid even considering he could be interested in me. I would never be enough, no matter how hard I’d try. I’d have to try though, because if I didn’t, no one would want to be my friend. I’d lose everyone if I’d stop trying. So I hid my arms under a shirt and kept my hands balled up to hide all my imperfectness. I went to kiss my parents goodnight and went to sleep. That night I dreamt I was falling, and I kept falling into nothingness until the alarm woke me. When I woke up, I was all sweaty and my pillow was wet with tears.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning; more self-harm. Poor Betty, she's not making things easy on herself...  
As you already know, when people talk I put " around it. Now, when Betty is thinking something, I had it in italics but I don't know how to do that here. So I put it ' around it. Slight difference, so I thought I'd say it :)

No one knew about my bad habits and I wasn’t planning on letting anyone know. So I did my best to put together and outfit that wouldn’t show anything of what happened last night. I opted for a long sleeved shirt with holes in it for my thumbs to go through, so I was effectively hiding all my fresh cuts without looking like a total weirdo. I was mad at myself and disappointed, for letting myself be weak. I came close to hurting myself again, but I stopped myself. I didn’t often manage to stop myself, but now I did. At breakfast I was more quiet than usual, but no one noticed. I left for school early, so I wouldn’t have to walk with my siblings. I couldn’t handle social interaction at that point. When I got to school, I suddenly realized I’d forgotten to pack a long sleeved shirt for PE. I’d have to talk to the teacher to let me be excused from that class, I couldn’t risk anyone noticing my cuts. Because I was early, I couldn’t go to class yet. So I just sat down at one of the picnic tables and waited for the first bell.

“You’re here early.” Someone said, startling me. I turned around and saw Veronica.

“Hey, yeah, I wasn’t in the mood to walk with my siblings. How was your afternoon with Jughead?” I asked, to get her to talk so I wouldn’t have to.

“It was great! We talked a lot, ate some cookies. Oh my god, I’ll tell you, that boy can eat so much but still looks as good as he does. It’s incredible, I wish I could eat like that and not gain a pound. But I guess Mother Nature didn’t give me that gift. He’s really interesting though, there’s so much more to him than you’d think. He knows a lot about books, and the history of literature. But that, of course, you already knew. He knows a lot about history in general too. He’s a very smart guy. B, I think I might actually be falling for him. It scares me though, because I don’t want to rush into this. I want it to be like a slow developing relationship. I want it to be something special, something lasting and not just a fling.”

“Yeah, you really shouldn’t rush it, it will probably scare him off.” I said jokingly, but Veronica looked at me, terrified, so I added, “I was joking. He is probably not so quick to develop feelings though, so you’ll have to be patient with him. After all, you’ve only known him for two days now. Sure, you can feel a spark there or something, but don’t get ahead of yourself. Just let it come to you, and it’ll all work out in the way that’s best for you.” I didn’t know why I’d suddenly become so serious about it, I guess it was just my mood.

“Yeah, I guess so. I can’t wait to see him today again though.”

“You aren’t hanging out today too, right? I need him for our assignment, he’s basically my entire source.” I chuckled, trying not to sound scared that he’d stand me up again.

“Of course I’m coming to your place after school, Betty. I promised, I won’t go back on that.” Jughead suddenly spoke from behind me and he made me jump. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“How long have you been standing there? How much did you hear?” Veronica asked, slightly panicked.

“I only heard Betty’s question, nothing else. But I don’t think you guys have heard the bell, have you?” That comment came unexpected, but he was right though, we hadn’t heard it. I quickly got up and so did Veronica. We walked to class together. Classes passed quickly, and before I knew it, it was time for the lunchbreak. After that I had Biology and then PE, which I could hopefully skip. As I arrived at our table, I only saw Jughead sitting there.

“Where’s everyone else, have you seen them?”

“Nope, they’ll probably be here soon though.” He took a bite from his burger. I unpacked my sandwich and just as I’d taken the first bite, Cheryl, Toni and Kevin arrived, chatting animatedly. 

“I am so excited to put together my squad! It’ll be so much fun!” I heard Cheryl say.

“I’ll definitely join babe, if I’m allowed.” Toni replied.

“Of course, Tee-Tee. I wouldn’t want it otherwise.” Cheryl gave Toni a quick kiss on the lips.

“What are you so excited about Cheryl? A new squad?” I asked, curious.

“Weatherbee gave me permission to start a cheerleading squad! You have to try out Betty, it’ll be so much fun! You too Veronica!” She yelled at her friend, who was just coming over with Archie. 

“Do what?” Veronica asked, confused, as she was sitting down next to me, quickly claiming an open spot.

“Try out for my cheerleading squad! Try-outs will be tomorrow, after school, in the gym. You have to come.” Cheryl said it almost as a command, but I knew she didn’t mean it like that.

“Can I join too?” Kevin asked, jokingly.

“Sorry Kev, only girls allowed.” Cheryl blew him a kiss. Because of lack of space at our table, Cheryl sat on Toni’s lap and I quickly hopped onto Kevin’s. 

“Isn’t that, like, discrimination?”

“Nope, it’s tradition. Sorry Kev, you won’t change my mind.” Cheryl blew him another kiss. Kevin winked at her in response.

“I’ll definitely go to try-outs tomorrow. You’ll come too right, B?” Veronica said. I looked at Jughead, asking for permission as it would mean we couldn’t work on our assignment again. He shrugged.

“Yeah, I’ll come too. Right after school, or …?”

“Yeah, right after the last bell. Uniforms will be ready in the locker room. So awesome, we’ll all be in a squad together!” Cheryl was so happy, that it made all of us happy. As I was done eating my sandwich, I was still hungry. I eyed Jughead’s burger, which was almost completely consumed. He noticed me staring.

“You still hungry? No surprise, one sandwich really isn’t enough. Here.” He gave me a small piece of his burger. I smiled at him thankfully, but didn’t say anything.

“Will the cheerleaders be at every game, no matter what the weather is?” Archie asked, sounding a bit challenging. 

“Of course, once a cheerleader, always a cheerleader. Nice weather or not.”

“Let’s bet on it.” Yep, definitely challenging.

“Sure, if we are at the first game when the weather is bad, you’ll sing at the variety show.”

“Sure. But when I win, you’ll have to do a special dance, just for me.”

“Sure, deal.” Cheryl and Archie shook hands. Then the bell rang and we all went to our own class. After Biology I went to my PE teacher.

“Mrs. Cope?”

“What’s up Betty?”

“I’m not feeling so good, can I please be excused from this class? I don’t want to get nauseous or anything.” I tried to sound weak.

“Sure Betty. Get well soon okay?”

“Thank you, Mrs. Cope.” Then I walked away. I was free to go home now, but I couldn’t for two reasons. One, Jughead would be waiting for me after school and two, my mom would ask me why I was home so early and if I’d tell her, she’d start yelling at me for being so weak and irresponsible. Skipping class because I wasn’t feeling well? Unacceptable. So I just sat down outside, on our picnic table. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the sun.

“Are you okay?” I heard someone ask, concerned. I instantly recognised the voice, but I wish I didn’t.

“Hey, Jughead. Yeah, I’m fine. You skipping class?”

“Not skipping, I just don’t have to go to PE. I hate it, so I made up a family disease to get me out of it. Don’t give me that look, I really, really hate it, from the bottom of my heart.” He sounded sincere. 

“Fine, I won’t comment on it. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, right?”

“Right. So, what are you doing here? Skipping class? Smudging your perfect attendance, Cooper?” He said it teasingly, but with a hint of curiosity.

“Not feeling very up to PE today, so I said I wasn’t feeling well.”

“So you lied, how dare you!” He softly elbowed me in my ribs.

“Oh, no, I didn’t lie. I just changed the truth a little bit. That’s not lying.”

“Sure, whatever. Hey, I wondered before, why are you wearing a long sleeved shirt in this weather? Isn’t it way too warm for that?” The sudden change of subject caught me off guard. Also, why did he have to be so perceptive? Especially about this.

“I uhm, I didn’t check the weather forecast before I got dressed.” It was a terrible excuse, given it was May and it had been warm for a few days already. I saw in his eyes that he knew I was lying, but didn’t comment on it any further. I mentally thanked him for that.

“So we’re both free earlier than planned, are we gonna wait for the bell or just go to your house?”

“Neither. Waiting makes no sense, but I can’t go home yet. My mom would kill me if she’d know I skipped a class. No perfect attendance anymore.” As soon as I’d said it, I wish I hadn’t. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that, it slipped out.” He gave me a look and changed the subject again.

“What do you wanna do then?”

“We could go to Pop’s, get a milkshake and then head to my house. Sounds good?” His face brightened the second I’d said ‘milkshake’, so he didn’t have to answer. We walked away from the school together. “It’s weird, you know.” I said, thoughtful.

“What is?” He was confused.

“I’ve only just met you, but I feel like I’ve known you forever. Like you really belong here, with us.”

“Yeah, that’s quite weird. I feel the same though.” He gave me a small smile. I smiled back at him. Then he suddenly stopped walking. I turned around and opened my mouth to ask what’s wrong, but he spoke before me. “Can I ask you a question?” He suddenly sounded very serious.

“You just did.” I winked at him. “But yeah, sure.”

“I don’t know if you know, but I have arts in my curriculum and we got a new assignment today. We have to make a piece of art, no matter what kind of art. A short film, a song, a painting, a photograph. I chose to photograph something, as I’m into that. I was wondering though, if you maybe wanted to pose for me? Not now, obviously, but next week or so. I’ve got the perfect spot in my mind and I can just see you in it. Will you do it?” He sounded a bit nervous, as if he’s just asked me on a date. He made me very happy though, asking this. Then I thought of Veronica.

“Don’t you wanna take Veronica? I’m sure she’d love to do it.” I smiled warmly at him. He looked a little disappointed and taken aback by my answer. That made me feel bad. “I’d love to do it too, I just thought that maybe you’d want that moment with Veronica. I’m saying this for her sake.” I realized that with every word I said I made it worse, so I decided to shut up and wait for his response.

“Well, I asked you, didn’t I?” He said softly, sounding a bit rejected.

“Then, I’d be honoured to be part of your photography assignment. I mean it.” I smiled at him and hopefully he could hear the serenity in my voice. He smiled a small smile back. Then we continued walking, got to Pop’s and I ordered a vanilla milkshake. He ordered strawberry. We talked about the History assignment and then a bit about our upcoming photographing trip, and as we were talking about it, I got more and more excited. I was glad he didn’t instantly gave up on me when I’d suggested he’d take Veronica. When the waiter came with the bill, I was quick to grab it and paid. As a way to make up to him for being such a jerk earlier. He looked a bit confused, but let it happen anyway.

After Pop’s, we walked to my house. I had told mom that Jughead would be staying over for dinner, so she knew he was coming. I deliberated going to my room, but I didn’t want to give Jughead the wrong idea. So we settled on the dinner table and got quite far with our assignment, mostly due to Jughead’s never ending knowledge on the subject. I enjoyed working with him, he made me feel calm. Around 6:00pm, my mom came from the study, didn’t say a word to either me or Jughead (I had no idea why not) and started cooking dinner. After fifteen minutes she asked us to set the table and then to call Polly and Charles. I told Jughead where to find plates and glasses and got the cutlery myself. Then I called Polly and Charles from upstairs. Just as my mom put dinner on the table, my dad walked in and sat down.

“It looks delicious, Alice.” My dad said. Then he spotted the beanie-wearing boy at our table. Jughead noticed.

“Hi, Mr. Cooper. My name is Jughead Jones. I’m working on a History assignment with your daughter, Betty. She invited me over for dinner.” I saw my dad grimace and I wish I could yell at him. Instead, my fingers turned inwards to my palms and I pressed them tighter against my skin until my nails dug into the skin there again. Before dinner I had taken my thumbs out of my shirt, which I now regretted. I was way too self-conscious and prayed that no one would see my cuts, especially not Jughead. 

“Well, Jughead, nice to meet you.” My dad obviously lied. I think my dad would rather throw him out right this minute, but my eyes told him to not even try.

“So mom, how come Betty can have a friend over and I can’t have Jason over, my steady, three-year-long boyfriend?” Polly asked my mom, sounding a bit annoyed.

“Because Jughead’s here for school. Jason will be here for company, which is nice, but not for the dinner table. Also, Betty, this is a one-time thing. I won’t have him sitting at our dinner table again.” She said, like he wasn’t there and it made me very angry.

“You don’t get to talk like that to one of my friends. I–” 

“You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do. This is my house, so my rules. If you don’t approve, then move.” I got up abruptly and walked away, to the study, while also putting my thumbs through my shirt again. I knew my mom would follow, and she did. Once the door was closed, I let my rage escape.

“You think you know everything about him, but you don’t! Just because he doesn’t come from a wealthy family like yours and ours, doesn’t mean you get to treat him like trash! He’s still a human being and deserves your respect! I won’t tolerate you talking like that to him, he’s been through enough already. He doesn’t need you talking him down, and neither do I. So please, do me a favour, and leave Jughead alone.” Before she could reply, I walked back into the room.

“Come on Jughead, let’s get out of here.”

“Elizabeth Cooper! You’re going nowhere with that boy!” As I kept walking, I pulled Jughead with me. “You turn around now and re-join us at the table! Don’t you dare walk out of that door now! Betty!” My mom was furious, but I didn’t care. I walked through the door with Jughead in tow, and then continued on the street.

“I am so, so sorry from the bottom of my heart. I never thought she would say stuff like that in your face. If I’d known, I never would’ve asked you for dinner.”

“Betty, it’s okay. It’s not your fault. Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you.” He sounded soothing, although I had to be the one soothing him.

“No, it’s not okay. You never should’ve heard her talk like that.”

“I heard you too, in the study, you know. Thanks for standing up for me, that was really nice of you. You didn’t have to though.”

“Yes, I did. I couldn’t just let her talk like that about you. You deserve better.” We smiled at each other. Then I heard his stomach growl.

“Sorry, but I haven’t had the chance to finish my meal at your house, since we left in a hurry.”

“Don’t apologise for being hungry. We’ll go to Pop’s again, I don’t wanna go back home.” He was quick to agree, and that’s how we arrived at Pop’s for a second time that day, again together. I walked to the far end of the diner, the booth I’d always sit in when I’d ran away from home. Jughead sat down across from me. Pop was at our table immediately. 

“Same as always for both of you?” He asked. We both nodded. Even though Jughead has only lived here for about four days maybe, Pop already knew his go-to meal.

“Where are you going after this?” Jughead asked me.

“Well, definitely not home. I’ll probably just call Veronica, that’s what I usually do.”

“Do these kind of things happen often then?” Only then I realized my slip up.

“Not often, maybe once a month?” That was a lie, once a week was closer to the truth. Again, he seemed to notice I was lying, but didn’t say anything. Then Pop’s came with our food, a salad for me and a burger, fries and onion rings for Jughead. He eyed me judgingly.

“You haven’t had that much more of the meal at your house than I did, you sure that’s enough?”

“It’ll have to be. I can’t eat more.” I said it matter-of-factly.

“You can’t eat more or you’re not allowed to eat more?” I looked down, and that was enough answer for him. He shook his head, but didn’t say anything anymore. We ate in silence. After I was done with my salad, I was quite hungry still, but I didn’t say anything. I was used to being hungry.

“Want one?” Jughead asked, offering me an onion ring.

“Are those nice? I’ve never had one.” I did my best not to sound too eager.

“Then you’ll definitely have to try. Here.” He gave me one. I took a bite, and it was delicious. I sighed contently, closing my eyes, enjoying it a little more than I knew I should. I heard him chuckle. “So do you have any plans tomorrow?”

“Only cheerleading try-outs, nothing else. Why?”

“Because we still need to finish our assignment and I thought maybe tomorrow, after the try-outs? That is, if you want.”

“Sure, but could we go to your place? I don’t want you and my mom in the same room any time soon.”

“We’ll go to Pop’s then. Do you think you could bring your laptop here?” He didn’t comment on my suggestion to go to his place, which surprised me.

“Definitely, I’ll just take it too when I go get my other school stuff tomorrow morning.” He nodded, looked like he wanted to say something, but, as always, didn’t. I started wondering why, anyone else would’ve asked so many more questions. When he’d finished his burger and other food, Pop came to us. I saw Jughead reaching for his wallet, which was a nice, unnecessary gesture. I stopped him.

“I’ll cover this one. It’s after all my fault you didn’t get enough food at my place.” He was about to object, but I cut him off. “Honestly, Jughead, let me. I don’t mind.” I looked at Pop and he nodded. He was one of the few people to know I had trouble at home often and so he “payed” my bills often when I’d come here, after a fight. In return, I’d work here sometimes on the weekends and in holidays. Then Jughead and I got up, thanked Pop and walked outside again. It was dark now.

“I’ll walk you to Veronica’s.” Jughead said in a way that I knew arguing wouldn’t help and he knew I would’ve otherwise.

“Thank you.” I said instead. We walked in silence most of the way, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. The temperature had dropped a bit and I didn’t bring a jacket, so I was getting a bit cold. I shivered and rubbed my hands over my arms.

“You’re cold?” Jughead asked.

“Just a little, I’ll be fine.” I saw him shake his head as he shrugged out of his Sherpa and gave it to me.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re barely wearing anything.” I smiled at him thankfully and put on his Sherpa, which was nice and warm and smelled a bit like smoke and musk. I instantly felt warmer.

“Thank you. You’re not getting cold now though?”

“Don’t worry about me, I’m rarely cold. It’s not smart though, refusing help when you could obviously use it.” I got the feeling he was talking about more than just him giving me his jacket.

“I know, but other people shouldn’t be bothered with my problems. I’ve gotta solve them on my own. We all have our own problems.”

“Still, we could all use some help from time to time. Don’t be afraid to accept it when someone offers, they’re probably offering for a reason.” I was about to ask what kind of reasons, but as I played that conversation in my head it took a direction I didn’t want to go. So instead I said:

“I’ll try next time.” He looked a bit sceptical, so I added: “I promise.” Then we arrived at Veronica’s and I rang the doorbell.

“Thank you for walking me here, Jughead. I appreciate it.”

“No problem. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Aren’t you gonna wait for Veronica? She’d be disappointed if I told her you just left.”

“Oh, well, I guess I could say hi.” And then Veronica opened the door, her face lightening up when she saw us.

“Betty! And Jughead! What are you two doing here?”

“I’m hoping to be able to spend some time here, if that’s okay?” I said and Veronica looked at me meaningfully.

“Of course, B. You’re always welcome here. And you, Jughead?”

“I just walked Betty here, since it’s dark and I stayed to say hi. So, hi, I guess.” He was a bit awkward. Veronica laughed.

“Hi. You wanna come in for a drink and maybe some cookies?” She knew how to get him interested.

“I never say no to cookies, I’m in.” He smirked at her. Then the three of us walked inside, Veronica to the kitchen and Jughead and me to the living room. I sat down on the big couch and Jughead on a leather chair. I gave him back his Sherpa, which he put on. Then Veronica came with drinks and cookies. Jughead instantly snatched the box of cookies from Veronica and started eating the first one. Veronica sat down on the couch next to me.

“We’ve just had dinner!” I said, teasingly.

“Like I said, I never say no to cookies. Not even after I’ve just had dinner. Which, by the way, was already half an hour ago.” He took another cookie.

“Well, you can have mine too. I’m still full.” 

“You can’t be. Here, take one, they’re delicious.” He threw me a cookie, which I only caught because it would be a waste if it hit the ground. I then shoved my cookie into Veronica’s mouth. She tried to protest, but I just kept shoving the cookie in her mouth. We both started laughing when the cookie was completely in her mouth. When I looked up, I saw Jughead looking at me disapprovingly. I looked back questioningly and as answer, he ate another cookie and looked at me pointedly.

“Fine, I’ll take one.” I sighed and caught the next cookie he threw at me. I took a small bite, and again, just as the onion rings, it was delicious. He smirked when he saw the content look on my face and gave a short chuckle. Veronica laid her head on my lap.

“I wanna watch a movie.” She looked up at me.

“Sure, ‘Romeo and Juliet’?” She grimaced.

“Not again, let’s watch something else.”

“‘It’, maybe?” Jughead suggested.

“Isn’t that the one with the clown? I like clowns.” I said. Veronica instantly stood up to get it and then turned on the TV and then the video player. She sat down with a smug smile. When the movie started, I instantly regretted saying yes to it. I now remembered that yes, it was with a clown. But it was also horror. One of the things I hated most would have to be horror movies. I didn’t get why anyone would like them. I also knew though that I was too late to say I didn’t want to see this movie. So I just didn’t look at the screen, only around the room, at Jughead and at Veronica. I liked watching the emotions cross Veronica’s face, they changed rapidly. As I was looking in the direction of the kitchen, Veronica suddenly screamed out loud which made me jump. I heard Jughead laughing.

“Geez, that scares me every time again, even when I know it’s coming.” Veronica let out a long breath. I had no idea what happened, as I wasn’t watching. At one point, as I was looking at Jughead, he suddenly looked back at me.

“You don’t like the movie, do you?”

“Not really, I hate horror but forgot this movie was horror. It’s fine though.” He shook his head and continued watching.

“Do either of you want something to drink?” I asked then, to have an excuse not to sit here anymore because I felt the mood in the movie darken and I didn’t necessarily wanted to be around it when Veronica would get scared more often. I always thought people didn’t like fear, but I guess I was wrong.

“Sure, I’d like coke please.” Veronica said.

“Coffee maybe?” Jughead asked.

“Coffee? At 10pm? You sure?” 

“Yeah, caffeine doesn’t affect me, not really.”

“Anything in your coffee?” He shook his head and I walked to the kitchen. I prepared our drinks and searched for something to eat for Jughead and Veronica, as I wouldn’t be eating. Then I saw the knife. 

'No Betty, don’t do it. You’re not even at home. Don’t do it. Don’t be weak, not again. Yeah, your mom sucks, but that’s no reason to do this. She won’t care, you’ll only hurt yourself.'

Then I heard the other voice in my head.

'It would take away the pain you feel though, forget pain through causing other pain, it’s worked before. Jughead and Veronica are probably cosying up in front of the TV, no one will notice. It’ll feel good to do it.'

'Don’t listen to that voice, Betty. Don’t do it. It’ll only work for a short period of time, just like alcohol. It also won’t solve anything. Please don’t.'

'That voice is weak. Don’t listen to it. Just do it, you’ll feel better.' I couldn’t take it anymore and to stop the voices I only saw one solution. I rolled my sleeve up and grabbed the knife. As the blade touched my skin, I instantly felt calmer. At that moment, I didn’t think of the consequences and cut one cut in my arm. I knew it was wrong, but at the same time it felt satisfying. I’d punished myself for my wrongs and showed that I was strong enough. Then I put the knife back down and rolled my sleeve down. Then I saw the blood seeping through my shirt and cursed under my breath. It wasn’t a strong thing to have done, it was weak and I fucked up again. I took the coward’s way out and regretted doing it. I felt tears coming out of my eyes and slowly dropped myself on the ground, crying. I hoped with my whole heart no one would come in. I heard Veronica scream every now and then and Jughead laughed every time. That made me even sadder. Why was I sitting here crying and were they having fun? It was unfair, but the only person to blame this on was myself. I decided to be weak and cut myself. I wish I hadn’t. After what felt like forever, but what was probably only 10 minutes, I got up and grabbed our drinks. I walked back in the room where the movie was playing and quietly put the drinks on the table.

“I was wondering where you were, I was about to come look.” Veronica said.

“Yeah, I also went to the bathroom. I searched for some food, but didn’t find any.”

“Under the sink we have some potato chips, you could get those.” Veronica suggested. I walked back into the kitchen and grabbed the bag of chips. When I came back into the room, I saw Veronica sitting on the ground in front of Jughead, resting her head on his knees. I handed him the chips, expecting him to eat most of it and then sat down on the couch again. Jughead looked at me questioningly, and I tried to smile at him. It was forced though, and he noticed. 

“You okay?”

“Don’t worry about it.” I said, instead of answering his question. I was glad it was dark in the room, that way I didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing the blood on my shirt.

“Hey, V, I think I’m going to bed. I’m tired.”

“You sure? The movie hasn’t even ended yet.”

“It’s not like I was watching anyway.” I said, chuckling a bit.

“You know where to find the stuff you need right?”

“Yes, I know. Goodnight you two, see you tomorrow!”

“Goodnight, B! Sweet dreams.” Veronica said.

“Sleep well Betty, see you tomorrow.” I walked out of the room, going upstairs to the guestroom. I wondered where Veronica’s parents were, I hadn’t seen or heard them tonight. They were probably out for work or dinner or something though. I opened the closet and got pyjamas out of it and the bag with toiletries I had there. I went to the en-suite bathroom and brushed my teeth. Then I combed my hair and went to the toilet and put on my pyjamas, cleaning my cut before putting on the shirt. I went back into the room, folded my clothes and put them on a neat pile. Then I climbed in bed and fell asleep quite quickly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hints towards Bughead? ;)  
Why does Betty's family always have to ruin everything though?
> 
> Follow Jughead on Instagram, @j.jonesviewoftheworld :)

I woke up, disoriented. It took me a few seconds to realize where I was. Then all the memories came back; how Jughead had dinner at my place, how my mom had been rude, how we’d eaten at Pop’s, how he’d given me his Sherpa, how I’d cut myself and how Veronica was resting her head on Jughead’s knees. Some were good, some were bad and some were confusing. I got up and opened the closet, looking for something long sleeved, but light. I had a few of my own clothes here because I usually came her once a week, so having some of my own clothes here was a great idea of Veronica’s. I found a pastel pink, long sleeved, thin shirt and put it on. Some jeans, my shoes, my hair in a ponytail and I was ready to go downstairs. Veronica was already in the kitchen, preparing breakfast.

“Good morning, how’d you sleep?” She asked me.

“Pretty good, actually. You? Till what time did you guys stay up?”

“I think Jughead left at like, 10:45 or something, my parents came home around 11pm and that’s when I went to bed.”

“Did you have fun?”

“Nothing happened, unfortunately. We just watched the movie, I was sitting in front of him resting my head against his knees, but he didn’t do anything. After we had a short conversation about school and then he left.” She had a small pout.

“Don’t worry about it, V. He’s probably just taking things slow. He didn’t push you away either, did he? So that’s a good sign, I’d say. Don’t expect everything to go so fast, he’s not that kind of guy.”

“You guys have become closer too, haven’t you?” I didn’t hear any hint of jealousy in her voice, just honest curiosity, so I decided to answer her honestly.

“Yeah, he’s nice. We mostly just hang out for school though. Although he did ask me to help with his photography assignment, he asked me to pose at some secret spot or something. I suggested he’d take you, but he said he was picturing me there, so I agreed. That’s okay though, right?”

“Of course, you’re my best friend! It’s not as if he’s asked you out on a date or anything though. That’s great, I‘m sure you’ll look beautiful!” She sounded truly happy for me, which made me feel a bit relieved. I hadn’t expected her to be upset about it, but to hear her say it was still a relief. Veronica isn’t the kind of person to be jealous of her best friend.

“Here, eat.” She put a plate with a sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes in front of me on the table. I obeyed.

“We still have to go past my house, to pick up my stuff. That’s okay right?”

“Yes, B, of course. We always do, that’s why I’m up already. Did you think I did it for fun?” She said it jokingly, but I still felt a bit guilty. I’d make it up for her though, soon. Maybe some burgers and fries at Pop’s, she always liked that. After breakfast, Veronica went to grab her bag and I went outside. There I saw Cheryl, who lived next to Veronica.

“Hey, Cheryl! You’re up early!”

“Oh, hey, Betty! Yeah, I’m picking up Toni. What are you doing here?”

“I slept over at Veronica’s. We’re going to my house now to pick up my stuff and then we’re headed to school.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you there!”

“Bye!” Then Veronica came outside. The car was already waiting for us, so we got in.

“First past Betty’s house, Smithers. She needs her books.”

“Of course, Ms. Veronica.” Smithers was the personal driver, and basically assistant, of the Lodge family. He’s been with them for as long as I’ve known Veronica, which is over 12 years. I’ve also never seen him take the day off, but he seemed to be enjoying his job, so I didn’t think much about it.

“Kev and I haven’t started working on our assignment yet, it is a lot of work? How much do you guys have?”

“The amount of work depends on how much work you want it to be. Jughead and I have been having a lot of fun working on it, so ours is a bit long but not even finished yet. I think we have like, 12 pages or something. But don’t freak out, I think we have way too much. You’re supposed to have like 6 or 7 pages, if I remember correctly, but it wasn’t a must. As long as the content was complete and elaborated enough, it would be good.”

“Okay, then we do have to start today though. You’re working on it again too, right?”

“Yeah, we are. It’ll probably be the last time though, I think after today we’ll be finished.”

“Ah, nice. So, what happened yesterday, B? Jughead wouldn’t tell me about it, he said it wasn’t his story to tell.” I sighed.

“Well, as you know, Jughead stayed for dinner. Then, out of nowhere, my mom started offending him and saying that she never wanted to him at our dinner table ever again, even though he hadn’t done or said anything. So I had a big fight with her and walked away.”

“Why’d she offend him though? If he hadn’t done or said anything?”

“Because of him being lower class. Which is the worst reason anyone could ever have, in my opinion. I couldn’t just let her talk trash about him, so I told her to stop talking him down. I didn’t let her reply though, I just went outside and pulled Jughead with me.”

“How was he under it?”

“Well, of course I apologized for my mom’s behaviour, but he said it was okay and not my fault. He seemed quite calm throughout it all, but I don’t know what was happening inside his brain though. He’s hard to read.”

“Tell me about it. I feel like he’s giving mixed signals but then this morning I realized he’s not giving signals at all. It’s really frustrating, to be honest.”

“Yeah, well, take your time and you’ll get to know him better. Then I think you’ll be able to read more of those little, subtle signals.” We had arrived at my house then, so I got out. I grabbed the ladder that was outside, put it under my bedroom window and climbed up. I opened my window, got inside, grabbed my bag and laptop and went back outside again, remembering to bring a long sleeved shirt for PE this time. Then I put the ladder back and went back into the car, with all my stuff.

At school nothing special happened. I became a bit more nervous every minute though, for our upcoming cheerleading try-out. I had no idea what to expect and I really wanted to get in. At lunch, I sat down next to Kevin, refusing to sit on someone’s lap again, it was someone else’s turn.

“Hey, Kev, you’ll be watching us after school won’t you? At the try-outs, I mean.” I asked him.

“Of course! I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I heard some of the football team guys would be there too, including Archie.”

“Great, more pressure. I’m sure they won’t be as nice or subtle about their opinion as Cheryl. That’s just fantastic.” I said sarcastically. I was more nervous now than before.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Betty. You’re gracious even when you walk, I’m sure no one will have something bad to say.”

“Thanks, Kev. I don’t believe you, but it’s still a nice thing to say.”

“Hey guys! Betty, you excited for try-outs this afternoon? I’m very curious.” Archie had joined us.

“Hey, Arch. Yeah, I heard from Kevin you would be watching. Great.” I did my best to sound enthusiastic, but Archie heard the sarcasm in my voice. So did Veronica, who had joined us at the same time Archie had.

“Hey, B, it’ll be fine. I’ll be there to kick anyone’s ass when they say one bad word about my bestie, don’t worry.”

“Thanks, V. Are you excited?”

“Of course! I’ve been wanting to be in a cheerleading squad ever since we started high school. Now my dream is coming true.” She looked very happy. Then Cheryl and Toni joined us and Cheryl sat down on Toni’s lap, as there was only one spot left. I wondered where Jughead was, he usually was one of the first to be here. Veronica must’ve wondered the same thing, because she asked:

“Has anyone seen Jughead? Like, recently, more recently than this morning?” No one had. Then I saw him walking towards us, looking angry. Veronica plopped down on my lap to make room for him at the table, which I didn’t mind.

“Hey, Jug, what’s wrong?” Veronica asked him, when he was close enough to hear.

“Oh, nothing special. Just Weatherbee complaining about my non-existent attendance at PE. He tried to force me to attend those classes too, but I said I wouldn’t. Now I have to be in school early on Monday, because I might’ve been a bit rude.” He smirked.

“Typical Weatherbee. Hey, will you be watching the cheerleading try-outs too, this afternoon?” Veronica asked.

“Why?”

“Because Betty and I will be trying out, as you know, and we could use someone to cheer us on.”

“Hey, I’ll be there!” Archie said.

“Me too! Aren’t I enough?” Kevin said, faking disappointment.

“Well, yes, of course you guys are there, but there’s never too many people cheering us on.”

“So you want me to cheer on cheerleaders? Isn’t that a bit, I don’t know, weird?” He chuckled and I couldn’t help but laugh as well, and neither could Veronica. The others had already gone back to their own conversation.

“Well, yeah, maybe. But still, please?” I couldn’t see, but I knew Veronica was pouting now.

“Betty, some help here?”

“You should come, it’ll be fun! And besides, you’re waiting for me to be done anyway, you might as well just watch.” I heard him sigh, defeated.

“Fine, I’ll be there. Right after school, right?”

“Yay! Thank you, Jugs! And yeah, right after school.” Veronica sounded even more excited now than before, which made me happy.

“Hey, Cheryl, what kind of uniforms will we have?” I asked her, suddenly a bit worried.

“It was supposed to be a surprise, but I guess it won’t hurt to tell you guys. It’s a white shirt, with long, yellow sleeves. Dark blue shorts and long, white socks with three yellow stripes on top and white sneakers. I personally love the outfit.” The second she’d said ‘long sleeves’, I let out a relieved sigh. No one noticed, thankfully, except Jughead, who gave me a questioning look. I shook my head. Then the bell rang and next class started. When I had PE, I quickly changed in a corner of the locker room. I saw the cheerleading outfits laying on some of the benches, and they really did look amazing. After PE, me and some other girls, including, of course, Veronica, Toni and Cheryl, stayed behind. Then we went back into the gym and it scared me how many people there were sitting on the bleachers, watching us. It made me very self-conscious. Veronica grabbed my hand and gave it a quick squeeze, before letting go again. On top, I saw Jughead, looking just as uncomfortable as I felt. Then we all stood in line in front of Cheryl.

“Hey girls! I’m Cheryl Blossom, I’ll be the captain of this team. As cheerleaders, we are expected to be at every game, no matter what weather.” She looked up and Archie and gave him a wink. “So that means, you’ll have to be committed. If you’ll just casually show up every now and then, I’ll kick you out without hesitation. I only want the best of the best in my squad. Today we’ll be doing some simpler moves, a choreo I worked on by myself. One more thing, hate won’t be tolerated in this squad, same goes for all the spectators. We’re supposed to be a team, we can’t be if we hate on each other all the time. Who does, can pack up and leave. Anyone who already doesn’t feel like this is something for them, can leave now.” She looked at us and no one left. “Good. Now follow my lead and try to keep up.” She started doing some steps and I did my best to copy them. I was glad we were standing with our back to the spectators, it made it easier to forget them. Instead, I focused on Veronica and Cheryl. After a few minutes, I started to feel more at ease and I started enjoying myself. I really liked it and hoped with my whole heart to make the squad. When we had to do some freestyle, Veronica and I gave it all we had. We laughed a lot too, though. After what felt like only five minutes, but what was already an hour, Cheryl had us standing in a line in front of her again.

“What I looked at today, was how much you were willing to go to the edge and how much fun you had. I didn’t look very much at how capable you were, more how willing you were. Of course, capability is a part of it too, but for me it’s more important that we have fun and that you’re willing to give everything. Now I’ll be telling who made it to my squad and who didn’t. We’re now with 30 girls, and in my squad we have room for 15, including me 16, which means half of you will have to go. Sorry in advance, if you have to go it didn’t necessarily mean you were bad, it just meant others were better. I also didn’t let my personal feelings have any influence on my decision.” When she said that, I instantly got that feeling where I knew I hadn’t made it on the squad.

“I’ll now name the people that didn’t make it. I’m saying sorry in advance again, I hope you won’t have any hard feelings towards me. Jacky, you didn’t make it. Neither did you, Alyssa.” She kept saying names, and I was scared the whole time. I felt like I hadn’t made it, but I wanted it badly. She was down to the last two people. “Gen, you’re out too. And lastly, Chasity. I’m sorry girls, you can go now. Everyone else, congratulations!” I was shocked. I had been so certain that I hadn’t made it. Veronica threw her arms around me.

“Oh my god, B! We made it! I can’t believe it! We’re cheerleaders! Together!” We jumped up and down together, I couldn’t believe it. Toni had made the squad too, I saw her and Cheryl hugging.

“I thought for sure I was out when Cheryl said that thing about personal feelings. I can’t believe it!” I said. It slowly started to sink in and I felt very happy. I felt ready to conquer the world. It was only for a short moment, but still.

“Okay girls, hit the showers and go home!” Cheryl said. I wasn’t gonna shower though.

“I’m not gonna shower, so I’ll see you tomorrow!” I called after Veronica. She instantly turned back around and gave me another hug.

“Not tomorrow, girl. Tomorrow it’s Saturday, remember. I’ll see you on Monday!” She gave me a quick kiss on my cheek and I smiled at her. Then she walked away towards the showers and I walked up the bleachers, to Jughead. He smiled when I was close.

“Congratulations, cheerleader! Are you excited?”

“Hell yeah, I’ve not been this excited for a long time, this is awesome. I thought for sure I was out, but I’m in!” I couldn’t contain my excitement and on a whim, I threw my arms around him. He was hesitant at first, but then hugged me back. When I realized what I’d done, I quickly let go and so did he.

“Sorry.” I smiled apologetically.

“It’s fine.” He smiled back at me, comfortingly. “You ready to go, or do you wanna change first?”

“Nope, I’m ready. I’ve gotta get my bag though, my laptop and everything is in it. Wait here.” I instructed him.

“Yes ma’am.” He saluted, which made me laugh. I went to get my bag and then we walked to Pop’s.

“Today I’m paying.” He said, and looked at me sideways.

“Fine. Then I’ll order an extra milkshake and burger.” I said teasingly.

“Sure.” He replied, not believing me. He was right though, I couldn’t afford it to eat extra, else I would gain too much weight. I didn’t say it out loud though. So when we got to Pop’s and sat down in a booth and the waiter asked what we wanted, I smirked at Jughead. He looked at me expectantly.

“I’ll have a vanilla milkshake and some onion rings, please.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Jughead shaking his head.

“I’ll have a strawberry milkshake, an extra-large cheeseburger, some fries, large too please and also some onion rings. Oh, and some coffee, black please.”

“Coming right up.” We sat across from each other at that point, but that wouldn’t work with my laptop.

“You have to come sit on my side of the booth, otherwise you won’t be able to see what I’m typing.” He nodded, got up and as I slid a little further into the booth, he sat down next to me. He was sitting quite close and I suddenly felt a big urge to touch him. I didn’t know what it was, I’d never felt such a thing before. I did know that I couldn’t touch him, so I did my best to restrain myself, in which I succeeded. I opened my laptop and logged in. when I opened my map with all my files, my heart dropped. There was a file about self-harm too, called 'Self-harm thoughts’. In that I always wrote down what I was thinking after I’d cut myself, to try to teach myself when I would have to make sure there was nothing sharp nearby. It wasn’t for anyone else to see though, so I clicked on our assignment file as soon as I could and closed the map, hoping with my whole heart he hadn’t seen. When I looked at him, it appeared that he hadn’t, but I still wasn’t sure. Either way, he didn’t say anything. Then our food came and I started sipping my milkshake. He started eating his burger.

“We only have to finish our part on Shakespeare, right? Then we’re done.” He nodded, as his mouth was full of burger. I searched for the right place in our document and started typing. At one point, he suddenly pulled the laptop towards him and started typing something. When he gave me my laptop back, there was a whole new paragraph about one of Shakespeare’s plays.

“Not many people know about that play, I thought it might earn us some extra points.” He explained himself. 

“You really do know a lot about all of this stuff, don’t you?” I said, lightly elbowing him in the ribs.

“You only realized that now? We wrote most of this essay without using the internet and you don’t say a word about it, but now I write a summary of one of Shakespeare’s less famous plays and you realize it?” He sounded offended, but in a teasing way.

“Well, I mean, kinda? I don’t know, I guess I realized it before too, but …” I chuckled. So did he.

“It’s fine. Now at least I know that impressing you isn’t easy.” He winked at me and my heart stopped. Then a huge smile spread across my face. He smiled back at me.

“You kids want anything else?” A waiter suddenly asked, interrupting our moment.

“Yeah, uh, some more fries?” The waiter nodded and walked away again.

“How can you still not be full? Where does all your food go?” I asked him, confused.

“I’m never full, Betty. Remember that.” I shook my head.

“How do you not gain weight though? Do you work out or something?”

“Never, I hate the gym. I don’t know how this happens, guess I’m just lucky.”

“Are your parents also skinny?” I didn’t expect him to grimace at the mention of his parents.

“I guess.” He seemed a bit frustrated, for a reason I couldn’t think of. I didn’t ask him though. We finished our essay, as Jughead was finishing the fries. A few times he offered me one, but I refused. I’d already eaten too much calories by eating the onion rings. Around 6:30pm we were finished. We emailed it to the teacher and ordered another celebratory milkshake. He didn’t move back to the opposite of the booth, which I didn’t mind at all. When we’d finished our milkshakes, we got up and he walked me home. When we arrived at my place, I really wanted to hug him again, but I didn’t. 

“Thank you for everything this afternoon. I had a good time.” I smiled at him.

“Any time. Have a nice weekend, Betty. I’ll see you on Monday!”

“See you!” Then I turned around and walked inside. 

“Hey, Betty! Just in time for dinner!” My mom was happy to see me, but she didn’t say anything about me disappearing last night and not coming home until now. I guess she just didn’t care.

“What’s that outfit you’re wearing?” Polly asked, as she came into the kitchen.

“Cheryl started a cheerleading squad and I made it in! It’ll look great on my college applications.” I added, because I knew my mom would like that one.

“It will indeed, good job Betty.” My mom said, as I had expected.

“I’m happy for you, Betty! But also a bit surprised though. I didn’t think they would let someone with your figure join, I thought they’d only want skinny girls.” Polly said, being completely honest. That hurt, hurt badly. I hoped for a second my mom would stand up for me, but it was wasted hope.

“You’re right, Polly. Maybe you should eat a bit less and work out some more, darling?” She suggested, in a sugar sweet voice. I cringed.

“Yes, mom, I’ll do that.” I said, quietly, while curling my hands into fists. “Can I go upstairs? I’m not hungry anymore.” I was glad I had eaten something at Pop’s, that made me not completely starving, although I could eat something.

“Of course. Wise decision, honey.” My mom blew me a kiss. I went upstairs and laid down in bed, crying. I cried myself to sleep that night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Photography trip :)  
Juggy just wants to help, let him help, Betty :)  
Jughead finally hears a bit of the truth and so does Betty. It was about time ;)  
Again, talking is with " around it and both Betty thinking and texting are with ' around it :)

Nothing special happened on the weekend. I barely ate anything and worked out a lot. Push-ups, sit-ups, jogging and lots of other stuff. I felt terrible, but at least I was losing a little bit of weight. I’d lost 6,5 pounds that weekend. The price was high though; sore muscles, starving and dizziness. But my mom was happy with me and that was, as always, the goal. I was happy to go to school on Monday again. I woke up early, so I could eat just a little bit before anyone else was up. I got dressed and took my bag downstairs with me. I ate a dry cracker and a small bowl of yoghurt. Then I started preparing breakfast for everyone else, bacon and eggs. I made the table and put the food on the plates. I was just finished when they all came downstairs. No one thanked me, they just started eating in silence. I excused myself to the bathroom. My cuts were a little less visible, so I decided to put on a T-shirt, as it would be warm today. The cuts on my hands from my nails were fresh though, as I’d broken through the skin Friday night.

'Well, what will be will be, I guess'

I walked downstairs when it was time to leave and walked to school with Polly and Charles. When I got to school, I looked around for Veronica. I didn’t see her until I walked into History though. There she threw herself at me.

“Betty!” She exclaimed, excitedly.

“Hey, V! I’m happy to see you too.” I laughed. Then the teacher spoke.

“Students! Don’t sit down quite yet please. I have received all of your previous assignments, very well. Today we’ll be starting a new one. Pair up in duos, no trio’s this time. That means we’ll have one person who has to work alone. Any volunteers?” 

“Me, sir.” I heard Jughead’s voice from somewhere in the back of the class.

“Okay, good. The rest of you, pair up now.” I turned to Veronica, but she looked at me apologetically. 

“Sorry, B. I promised Ethel we’d work together on the next assignment.”

“That’s okay. I’ll find someone else.” I looked around and saw Kevin.

“Hey, Kev!” He walked towards me.

“You also still alone?” I nodded. He pulled me in for a hug. “Then now we’re partners.” He stated. I knew it didn’t matter what I said, but I spoke anyway.

“Fine.” We both laughed. Working with Kevin would be a lot of fun. I wouldn’t get as high of a grade though as with Jughead, but that was okay. If I’d just do some extra alone, it’d fine. We sat down together as the teacher started explaining what we’d have to do. We had to choose a country and write about its history. We quickly agreed that we would do England and signed that up. As we discussed about how we would do it, I sneaked a few looks in Jughead’s direction. He was so quick to say that he wouldn’t work with a partner, I wondered if he maybe regretted working with me or something. He didn’t look at me though, he looked at no one actually. He seemed to be in his own world, looking away from everyone. I guess I’d ask him what’s wrong during lunch. 

When we had lunch though, he didn’t join us at our table. He sat alone, as far away from everyone as possible, headphones on and reading a book, same as his first day. I wondered why, but didn’t go ask him. I figured he must have a good reason to not wanna sit with us. I asked Veronica if she knew anything, but she didn’t. My mom had packed me a salad for lunch, so after that I was still hungry. No one noticed though that I barely had any food, as Jughead would have. I was glad though, as it meant I didn’t have to explain anything to anyone. After school I went to Kevin’s to work on our new assignment. We wrote about the first few invaders, first the Romans, when they left it was the Picts, who lived north of England. The Celts, the original inhabitants of England, had never had to fight invaders themselves, so they accepted help from the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who didn’t leave when war was over. After that it was the Vikings. We wrote three pages about those invaders and invasions. After that, we hung out in front of the TV, taking selfies and laughing a lot. Around 6:00pm I went home. Spending afternoons with Kevin was always nice, he was such a bright person. Around him you just couldn’t be sad, not for long at least. At dinner I only ate a bit of salad, having not forgotten what my mom and sister said Friday. My mom gave me an approving look, which reminded me again why I was starving myself. I also suddenly realized that no one had commented on the scars on my arm, which I interpreted as that no one had seen them, which made me feel a bit better. After dinner I went upstairs to do some more homework and then I went to sleep, but not before looking at the selfies from that afternoon and deleting the bad ones. One of the pictures in particular made me smile; I was laying on Kevin’s lap with my head and we were both doing a funny face, me because he was tickling me. I fell asleep with a smile on my face for a change, instead of tears coming from my eyes. I slept well that night.

The next morning I woke up early again, to make everyone breakfast and eat my cracker and yoghurt. Again I wore a T-shirt. After breakfast, I walked to school with Polly and Charles. Lately I haven’t been seeing Charles as often as I used to, we used to hang out almost every night. I guess he was busy, but I didn’t care enough to ask. Polly and I had never really been close, so me and her not hanging out was nothing new. In History, Jughead again didn’t look at me or Veronica, nor did he greet us. I decided that if he wouldn’t join us at lunch again, I’d ask him if there was something wrong. Classes went by smoothly and when it was lunchtime, I waited five minutes before getting up and walking to Jughead, who again hadn’t joined us. I told Veronica I’d be right back.

“Hey.” I said, when I’d arrived where he was sitting.

“Hi.” He replied. He didn’t look up from his book, but did put off his headphones.

“Is there something wrong? I feel like you’re ignoring me. Well, us.”

“Nope, nothing’s wrong. Just not in the mood to be social.” He still wasn’t looking at me and I realized he wouldn’t be telling me what was bothering him.

“Are we still on for the photography trip?” I asked instead.

“Yes, if you still want it.”

“I’m looking forward to it already, even though I don’t know when we’re going. Did you have a day in mind?”

“How about tomorrow? After school?”

“Sure. We’ll wait for each other in front of school?”

“Actually, could you meet me at Pop’s after school?”

“Oh, sure, no problem. I’ll see you then.” He gave me a nod and then put his headphones back on. I knew something was wrong and I wanted to know what. I didn’t push him though. I walked back.

“He said nothing’s wrong, but I don’t believe him. He didn’t look at me throughout the entire conversation.” I told Veronica, who looked at me expectantly.

“Maybe I should go talk to him?”

“I wouldn’t do that, he seemed like he wanted to be alone. I’d let him be.”

“You went there though, so why can’t I go?”

“If you wanna go, then go. I’m just saying he didn’t seem very into the conversation I was trying to have. But I’m not gonna stop you if you wanna go.” And then she got up and went over to him. I sighed and then listened to Archie and Kevin having a conversation about sports. It was boring, so I joined Cheryl’s and Toni’s conversation about cheerleading. Apparently they were working on a new choreo together, which we would be doing for the upcoming game. The one time I looked over at Veronica and Jughead, I saw her talking and him pretending to listen. Veronica didn’t seem to notice though. That night I had a mental breakdown again, because my mom was in a mood and felt like breaking me. At that point everything I did or had done was wrong. I also cut myself again and hated myself instantly after. I cried myself to sleep.

The next day I didn’t see Jughead at school at all. But because we’d spoken yesterday, I went to Pop’s after school, hoping he’d be there. When I got there, he was already sitting in a booth in the back, with his back towards me and the exit, and I sighed with relief. 

“Hey. Why weren’t you at school today?” I sat down across from him.

“Hi. I had to take care of some things, for our shoot. Weatherbee gave me permission, as it was for school.” He was looking down at the table.

“Jughead, what’s wrong? You’re not looking at me and yesterday you weren’t either. Did I do something? Did I say something? What happened?” He sighed, and then said:

“It’s got nothing to do with you. I just didn’t want you to see. I didn’t want anyone to see. But I guess now I don’t have a choice, as we’ll be doing a photoshoot after we’ve had our milkshakes.” I was about to ask ‘see what’ when he finally looked at me. I gasped. The right side of his face was half covered with a blue and purple bruise. His eye was completely surrounded by the bruise and till a bit thick. It looked bad.

“Shit, Jughead, what happened?” I asked, shocked.

“Nothing. That’s why I didn’t want anyone to see, I didn’t want to have to answer that specific question.” He sounded a bit scared and annoyed at the same time.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not gonna believe nothing happened. You can tell me, I won’t tell anyone else and I won’t judge.”

“Maybe later. Let’s try to focus on the shoot only this afternoon, okay? I would appreciate that very much.”

“Fine. As long as you promise to tell me sometime.”

“Fine.”

“No, promise.”

“Fine, I promise.”

“Good. Now, is this okay for me to wear, or do we have to stop by my house to get some other clothes?”

“When I said I was preparing, I obviously thought of clothes. I bought you some.” He looked a bit nervous all of the sudden. “A green T-shirt and dark blue jeans. I hope that’s okay.” I swallowed once and felt nervous. Because of what happened last night, I wore a long sleeved shirt again. Wearing a T-shirt with Jughead paying attention to my every movement for the photos and deciding my poses would be risky. A T-shirt might reveal my secret. Then I took a deep breath and said:

“That’s fine.” Then the waiter came with our milkshakes, which Jughead had apparently already ordered. I reached for my milkshake with my right arm. A mistake, I realized, when I saw Jughead looking at me, shocked. When I looked at my arm, I saw that my sleeve had slid down a bit because I reached for my shake, and scars and one big, fresh cut were visible. I internally kicked myself for this mistake and quickly put down my milkshake, but the harm had already been done. I could see it in Jughead’s eyes. The waiter put down his shake in front of him and he absentmindedly drank it all at once. He kept his eyes fixed on me, expression shocked. He didn’t say anything though. I also drank my milkshake in silence. Then I heard him say softly:

“Betty? What was that?” I looked up at him.

“I guess we can’t pretend you didn’t see?” He shook his head and looked a bit sad. “Well, then I’ll tell you some of it. Not here though. But I’ll only tell you if you’ll tell me what happened.” He nodded in agreement. Then he paid for our milkshakes and we walked outside. Jughead was carrying two bags, one with his camera and one with what I thought were my clothes.

“Wait, I should change, shouldn’t I?”

“Can you change in the bathroom at Pop’s? Because otherwise you can change at our location, it’s in a forest so there’s lots of places for you to hide or I could just close my eyes.” I pictured myself changing in the small bathroom Pop’s had and decided the forest would be better.

“I’ll change when we get there.” We were silent again after that.

“Betty?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you tell me now? Are those– Are –” He took a deep breath. “Are those self-harm scars?” My voice trembled as I answered.

“I wish I could say no. I’m sorry you had to see that, no one was ever supposed to.” I looked down at the ground.

“Why though? A girl like should have no reason to feel the need to do that. No offense, but I just mean–”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, like, a girl that looks like you– you shouldn’t– I don’t know.” He was really struggling to find words.

“A girl that looks like me? What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean you’re pretty. You know that, right?” I scoffed. Me? Pretty? Hell no. He saw my scepticism.

“I mean it. If we’d been closer, I would’ve said you’re beautiful. But that would be weird now. I’m serious though, you have nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I don’t believe you, but thanks anyway, I guess.”

“You haven’t answered my question yet, though. Why do you do that?” I sighed.

“Please don’t think I’m a baby or that I’m looking for attention or anything or that I’m overreacting or something. It’s just, my mom. I’m never good enough for her, and it makes me crazy sometimes. Well, not sometimes, often. Sometimes I run away, to Veronica’s, but I can’t bother her every day. Other times, when it all becomes too much or when I have a breakdown, this is what I do. I can’t help it though.”

“You know, I suspected there was something like this going on with you.”

“Why? How? Since when?” I panicked slightly.

“Do you remember when we were at Veronica’s last week?” 

“You didn’t. You didn’t see me. Please tell me you didn’t.”

“See you? Well, I didn’t see you when you were in the kitchen, no. But when you came back, I could see that you had cried. Then I knew something was wrong, but I had no idea what. When you asked Cheryl about the cheerleading outfits, I saw you looking relieved when she said it were long sleeved shirts. That, and the fact that you wore a long sleeved shirt last week Thursday when it was quite warm, taught me there was something on your arms and I suspected self-harm, but I couldn’t think of a reason why. But then, just now when I said I had a T-shirt for you, you looked nervous. When you reached for your shake, I was sure. I observe a lot, Betty, not much escapes my attention.”

“Why didn’t you ever say something though? I could tell that you knew it when I was lying every time, but you never said anything. Why?”

“Because I figured if you’d wanted me to know or if you’d wanted to tell me or someone else, you’d do it. If you didn’t, there must be a reason why not. We all have our secrets that we wanna keep to ourselves, I figured those were yours.”

“Thank you for not asking those questions, because you’re right, those were things I wanted to keep to myself. Didn’t work out completely though, as you know now.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear you’re having a hard time and I wish there was something I could do.” Then he suddenly grimaced, but I didn’t know why.

“Now it’s your turn. What happened to you face?” He sighed before speaking.

“My dad and I got into a fight, but he was drunk and hit me. It doesn’t happen often though, so it’s fine.”

“That’s not fine! Drunk or not, he should never hit his children!”

“Chill, Betty. I know, it’s wrong. But please, I told you, now let it go.” I sensed there was more to this story, but because of what he said earlier about telling what you wanted someone to know, I didn’t ask.

“I guess for the photos I need to think of poses for you that don’t show your scars, right?”

“I would appreciate that very much.” 

“Then I’ll do that.” It was only then that I looked around at our surroundings. We were in the forest and in front of us, half a mile away I saw a clearing and I heard a waterfall.

“Is that where we’re going?” He nodded. “How did you find this place?”

“I walk around in the forest a lot, it makes me calm.” We walked to the waterfall in silence. Once we got there, Jughead handed me the bag with my clothes. Then he sat down, facing the waterfall. 

“I promise I won’t turn around, so you can get changed.”

I felt a bit self-conscious, but changed anyway. When I was done, I sat down on the ground in front of Jughead. The he suddenly grabbed my arm. I tried to pull it away, but he had an iron grip.

“Jughead, let go!” He didn’t listen, instead he traced the fingers of his other hand lightly over my arm and my scars. I had to admit, it felt kind of nice. He realized that I was more relaxed and loosened his grip a bit. I didn’t pull away. I looked at him and he was looking at my arm, a mixture of a lot of emotions on his face. I recognised anger, fear, confusion and sadness, but there were more. Then I saw his eyes starting to water and he suddenly let go of my arm, stood up and turned away from me. He then grabbed his camera and told me to go stand in front of the waterfall, facing him. It took me a moment to process what had just happened, but then I got up and stood where he wanted me to stand. He kept giving me orders of how to pose, how to hold my head, where to look and I obeyed, trusting him to keep my scars out of the pictures. I had no idea for how long we were busy, but I didn’t mind. I quite liked it actually, I could forget all my flaws and miserableness and just pretend to be beautiful. On top of that was the look Jughead sometimes had when he looked at a picture, he looked very happy and proud. I let myself believe that it was because of the fact that I was in the picture. I knew it wasn’t true, but I let myself be happy with that fake fact. 

“I think I’ve got it.” He said, way too early for my liking. But I walked back to him anyway. We sat down across from each other on the ground again. Then he dug into the backpack and grabbed a box of cookies and two water bottles. He handed me one of the bottles and opened the box of cookies.

“I baked these, so you’re obliged to eat at least one.” He smiled at me, lightening the mood a bit.

“Fine, I’ll eat one.” I grabbed one cookie and ate it. It was great. Then I heard him chuckle and I looked up.

“I won.” He said and chuckled again.

“What?” I asked, frustrated but also I couldn’t stop myself from chuckling too.

“I didn’t bake these, but I knew that if I said I did, you’d eat one. I noticed you’ve lost weight.” He said it casually, but I could hear a bit of a disapproving tone in it.

“You really notice a lot, don’t you?”

“Why?” His eyes bored into mine and held my gaze. I was amazed by how blue his eyes were, they were beautiful. And for some reason, the truth spilled out.

“Last Friday, when I came home and told my family that I’d made the cheerleading squad, my sister said she was surprised someone as not-skinny as me was allowed to join. My mom agreed with her and that’s when I basically stopped eating, apart from a little bit to keep me alive. I’ve also started to work out more. It’s just, when they say those things to me, my confidence disappears and I believe them. They have so much power over me that I can’t fight it. It’s frustrating, but I can’t help it.” I almost started to cry thinking about it again, so I stopped talking. I still couldn’t look away from his eyes though, and he probably saw the tears forming in my eyes.

“Family is supposed to support you, not talk you down. They were wrong, Betty. You’re not fat, you’re skinny enough as you are. In fact, I think you should gain some weight instead of lose some. You really don’t look healthy at the moment. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but it is true.”

“I want to, but I can’t. Most of the times that I eat, is at home. My mom would kill me if I’d eat more than a bit of salad and she packs my lunch, so I can’t bring extra food with that either. When I spend money on food, she’ll notice too. I want to eat more, because I’ve been feeling worse lately, but I honestly can’t.” It was then that I couldn’t block the tears anymore. They streamed down my face, as I kept saying ‘I can’t’. Jughead moved to sit next to me and wrapped one arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to his side. Then he wrapped his other arm around me as well and just held me, until my crying had stopped. I really liked the feeling of his arms around me, and I was positive that if he hadn’t been there, I would’ve cried at least three times as long. I didn’t tell him though. Instead I thanked him. When I was calm again, he let me go and offered me some more water. I thankfully gulped it all down and then he gave me a cookie. I eyed it and then looked at him. Then I ate it, if only just for him. He smiled at me and it made me feel a little better. Then he got up.

“We should head back, before it becomes dark.” I checked my phone and it was already 6:30pm. Where had the time gone? I wondered. Jughead helped me up, steadied me when I almost fell and then packed his bag. I quickly changed into my own clothes and gave the other outfit back. He said I could keep them, but put them in his bag anyway. Then we walked back in silence, which was nice. I didn’t feel like talking and apparently, neither did he. He walked me all the way home and then we said our goodbyes. When I walked in, my mom instantly started screaming at me.

“Elizabeth Cooper! Where have you been? We’ve already had dinner! Not that that matters, you wouldn’t eat with us anyway, but still!” I sighed before answering.

“I was out with a friend, for a school project.” I hoped she wouldn’t ask more questions, but of course today had to be the day she suddenly cared.

“Who and what kind of project?”

“Jughead, and for a photography assignment he has. We did a shoot in the forest. And before you say anything, mom, no, we didn’t do anything, other than shooting. Now please lay off.”

“You don’t get to talk like that to me, young lady! You’re grounded, at least until next weekend. And I hope you change your attitude, it doesn’t do you any good. Now go upstairs.” She walked away and I knew the conversation was over. I had a lot more to say though, but I kept my mouth shut, not wanting a worse punishment. I went to my bedroom and laid down in bed. When I looked on my phone, I saw I had a missed call from Veronica. I called her back and she answered on the second ring.

“Hey, B! What’s up?”

“You called me?”

“Right, yeah, I did. I wondered how your afternoon was. Did Jughead show up? I hadn’t seen him in school all day.”

“Yeah, he showed up. He spent some time prepping, that’s why he wasn’t at school.”

“Did you get some nice shots? Can I see them too?”

“Oh, shoot. I didn’t even ask him. Guess I will tomorrow. And yes, you’ll definitely get to see them.”

“If they’re any good, I might ask him to take me on a photography trip too, that’d be amazing.” I knew that Veronica was picturing it, her posing for Jughead in a beautiful setting. I hoped for her he’d say yes.

“You should anyway! Even if he’s a bad photographer, which I don’t think he is though, you’ll have a great time together!”

“Did you?”

“What?”

“Have a great time?” 

“Well, yeah sure. Not special or anything though, but we had fun.” I knew it was a lie, but Veronica didn’t have to know what had happened, it’s not like we kissed or something.

“Good. How long have you been home?”

“Just came home. It was quite a walk to the spot he had in mind.”

“Mama Cooper must’ve loved you coming home so late, didn’t she?”

“Let’s just say, I’m grounded. For a week and a half, at least. So that’s fun.”

“Oh, no! Why did she have to do that? I was planning a surprise sleepover at my place for us girls! Guess that’s not gonna happen this weekend.” She sounded quite disappointed.

“Sorry, V, another time. Great idea by the way! Hopefully next weekend I’ll be free to go wherever I want, but don’t count on it. I’ll keep you updated though.”

“Thanks, B. I’ll talk to you tomorrow again, goodnight!”

“Night, V.”

I wanted to type a short ‘thank you’ text to Jughead before I went to sleep, but then I realized I didn’t have his phone number. I’d have to ask him sometime this week. I changed into my pyjamas and went to sleep.

The next day when I woke up, I didn’t believe yesterday had happened. Jughead and I had, for a minute, felt like more than friends. That couldn’t have happened. I hoped he felt the same and that we could just be friends. Although I had to admit, I liked feeling close to him, but I just couldn’t do that to Veronica. She was crazy about him, I couldn’t take that away from her. I got dressed, long sleeved shirt, and went downstairs. Unfortunately though, my mom was already there too. That meant I couldn’t eat my usual cracker and bit of yoghurt. Instead I opted for just a cracker. My mom was making breakfast already, so I just sat down in the living room, reading a book. When everyone came downstairs to have breakfast, no one invited me over to join them. Guess everyone thought it was good or normal that I wasn’t at the breakfast table. I realized later though, when I suddenly noticed Polly and Charles had already left for school, that they were ignoring me. Another punishment, I assumed. I got up to go to school, when my mom suddenly spoke to me.

“Where are you going, Elizabeth?”

“School, obviously. Why? I can’t go?”

“Only if you return home instantly after. If you’re not home within half an hour after school ends, I’m taking your phone.” I couldn’t believe it. I walked to school, feeling very angry. In History, Kevin and I worked on our history of England, we wrote another paragraph. 

“Maybe we should hang out sometime this week to work on it some more?” Kevin suggested.

“That would be a good idea, except I’m grounded. So I’ll have to ask my mom if it’s okay if you come over, but otherwise it won’t work. Then we’ll each have to write our own part. Sorry, Kev.”

“Oh, that’s okay. Why’re you grounded though?”

“I was home late.”

“That’s all? Wow, your mom is strict.”

“Tell me about it.” I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, you would know.” Then we both started laughing.

“Betty, Kevin, keep it down please. There are people here who are trying to work.”

“Sorry, sir.” We were quiet after that.

When it was lunchtime, I walked towards our table and saw everyone already sitting there, except Jughead. He sat alone again, but now I knew why. When I arrived at our table, I said:

“Guys, Jughead is not joining us because he has a huge bruise on his face but doesn’t want anyone asking about it. So I’m gonna go over and tell him no one will ask about it and ask him to join us again. Anyone disagree?” Veronica’s super happy face was all we saw, so I went to him.

“Hey.”

“Hey. Here to convince me to join you guys again?”

“Yes, but they now already know your face is fucked up. I told them not to ask you anything.”

“You really want me there, don’t you?” 

'Yes.' “No, not me. Veronica would be very happy. Well, me too, kinda, but mostly Veronica.”

“Fine, I’ll come. But I swear, if anyone asks or says a word about my bruise, I’m gone.”

“Fine.” He got up and we started walking in the direction of our table.

“What did you have for breakfast?” He kept surprising me with unexpected questions and subject changes.

“This morning I had a cracker, but usually a cracker and a small bowl of yogurt. My mom would kill me if I’d eat more.”

“Betty, that’s really unhealthy.” He looked at me disapprovingly.

“I know, but like I said yesterday, I can’t do anything. Now shut up about it.” I said, because we’d arrived at the table. Cheryl and Toni shared one spot again, and I claimed Kevin’s lap so Jughead could sit down on the bench.

“Hey Betty, here to ruin my view again?”

“Thanks, Kev, love you too.” We laughed. Then I opened my lunchbox, a bit scared to see what was in it. I was relieved to see there was even something in it, although it was just a salad, same as the days before. When I was finished, I put my box on the table and continued my conversation with Archie and Kevin. Toni and Cheryl were planning a sleepover for the two of them and Veronica and Jughead were having their own conversation about who knows what. When I looked in my lunchbox a few minutes later though, I saw a sandwich there. I was surprised and looked around the table to figure out who had put it there. My eyes landed on Jughead.

“Jughead, did you?” I asked him, pointing at my lunchbox. He shrugged.

“I noticed you only had a salad these past few days, so I thought I should bring you a sandwich. It’s with lettuce and tomato, as you usually have.” Then he continued his conversation with Veronica, as if what he’d done was nothing. My whole body felt warmer because of his gesture though, no one had ever done something like that for me. I wanted to hug him and never let go and thank him a million times. I didn’t do anything though, but I was very grateful. The sandwich tasted better than the ones I used to have for lunch. I’d have to think of a way to properly thank him for this. After school I instantly went home, I couldn’t be too late. When I arrived home, I went upstairs to do my homework. At dinner I ate some lettuce and potatoes, but not much. After dinner we played a game with the whole family and I actually had fun. I had missed those after-dinner games more than I’d realized. After the game, I watched some TV with Polly and then I went to bed. Before I fell asleep, I checked my phone. I had a message from Veronica.

'Jughead came over after school. When he left, I gave him a hug and he hugged me back, it was amazing. I hope that it wasn’t a one-time thing :)'

I was happy for her, but at the same time I felt a bit sad. I didn’t know why though, or at least I wouldn’t admit to myself why. I texted her back.

'I’m happy for you, V. And I hope too that it wasn’t a one-time thing. Goodnight now X B'

'Night, B'

I slept restlessly that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I quickly wanted to thank you all who are reading my story and leaving kudos and bookmarks, it really means a lot to me :)  
Also, I promise the Jughead and Veronica relationship is almost over, one more chapter guys :) I just didn't want to start with a Bughead relationship, but as I said in the tags, that's gonna happen. Slowly though.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trouble in paradise for Veronica and Jughead  
Idk if I should keep mentioning it, but I'm going to anyway. Talking is between " en Betty thinking or texting is between '

The next two weeks nothing special happened. I worked on the History assignment with and without Kevin, every day at lunch Jughead brought me an extra sandwich, which made my heart swell every time and he and Veronica hung out a lot. I was grounded for a whole week and two weekends, so the sleepover with the girls from our group was pushed till coming weekend and today it was Friday, so tomorrow it’d be happening. Veronica had changed her plans a bit though, she’d invited the whole friend group, as an excuse to ask Jughead. They have been getting really close lately and I kept feeling mixed feelings. I was happy for Veronica, but I couldn’t deny the loneliness I felt too. Veronica was spending more time with Jughead, time she used to spend with me and even though I’d only just met Jughead, I missed how openly I could talk to him. He was the only one who knew about my self-harm and sometimes I just had to get some stuff of my chest that only he would understand. Instead of hanging out with them, I hung out with Kevin and Archie a lot more often. Cheryl and Toni too, sometimes, but they were usually caught up in each other. Kevin and I have always been close, but our connection grew stronger every day these past two weeks. If I hadn’t known him since we were kids and if he hadn’t been gay, we might’ve become a couple. But I didn’t feel those feelings, not for Kevin at least. Archie turned out to be a lot of fun to hang out with too. Even though he’d been a part of our group for as long as I could remember, I never really talked to him alone. He often brought his guitar when we hung out and played some songs. He was so talented. My mom was happy that I kind of stopped hanging out with Jughead, she still didn’t like him. She did like Archie however, she kept pushing me to do something romantic towards him. I didn’t like him that way though, so I refused. I also thought Archie didn’t feel that way about me, which was good, it would’ve been quite awkward otherwise. One thing that did happen more often since I hung out less with Jughead and Veronica, was me cutting myself. I felt happy when I was with Kevin and Archie, but when I was alone I got really down and couldn’t stop myself. I got the feeling Jughead noticed sometimes though, as I was always wearing a long sleeved shirt lately. But, as usual, he didn’t comment on it. After school I sometimes had cheerleading practice, which was great. Today my Biology teacher had fallen ill, so I had a free period. I was sitting at our lunch table, soaking up some sun with closed eyes. I suddenly sensed someone sitting down next to me and when I opened my eyes, I saw Jughead.

“Hey. You don’t have class either or are you skipping again?”

“Both.” I looked at him, confused, and he continued. “I’m getting some time to work on my art’s assignment, so I basically have class now but this is me working on it. Would you like to see the photo’s I took a few weeks ago? I’m done editing them.”

“What did you edit about them?”

“Mostly just the colour and shade, you know. A little darker here, a little lighter there. Nothing about you though.” He’d guessed what I was thinking.

“Yeah, I’d like to see them.” He opened his laptop and I thought he’d open a file named something like ‘school’ or ‘photography’ or something, but instead he had a file named ‘Betty Cooper’. That made me smile. He opened it and clicked on the first photo. I gasped, it was beautiful. The colours, the light, the waterfall and even I looked amazing. I was sitting crouched on a big, flat stone in front of the waterfall. On the right side was the dark beauty of the forest and on the left the lake where the waterfall ended in. I was looking straight into the camera, but I thought it was taken at a time when I didn’t realize it, my face didn’t look forced or anything, it was just what it was, no forced expression.

“You like it?”

“I love it. This is incredible.” He continued clicking through the photos and one by one they were all beautiful. I couldn’t believe I could look so good in photos and it felt weird thinking that about myself, but it was true. 

“Could you send your favourite one to me?” I asked.

“Sure. Then you’ll need to give me your number though, because I don’t think I have it yet.” He gave me his phone, so I could give him my number.

“I’ll look at them at home again and I’ll send you my favourite somewhere this afternoon, okay?”

“Sure, take your time. So you’re coming tomorrow? To Veronica’s sleepover?”

“I don’t really think I have a choice with her, do I?” He said it jokingly, but I heard some sort of fear in his voice too.

“With Veronica? Nope, if she wants something, she usually gets it. It’ll be fun though and we’re not with many people. Just our lunch table group.”

“I know, it’s just not really my scenery.” 

“Same though, to be honest. I’d like it a lot better if it were just Veronica and me, the more people, the more complicated.” We were quiet for a while. Then he asked:

“So, how are you Betty? Really?”

“Okay, I guess. Although I have been better.”

“I noticed you’re always wearing long sleeved shirts now, is it that bad? And how’s eating?”

“I think once every two days. I’m fine when I’m around people, but when I’m alone, I guess it just all hits me and I can’t take it. And as for eating, still barely. My mom’s still calling me out on it though, I don’t think it’ll ever be enough for her. I’m way skinnier than my sister, but my sister gets away with it. It’s just unfair, I feel like all her hatred is pointed towards me. There’s nothing I can do about it though, when I say something I’ll probably get grounded again.” He squeezed my shoulder shortly.

“It’ll be okay one day, Betty. And remember, even though we don’t really hang out anymore, I’m always here to talk or just to listen. And now you have my number, so it’s easy to just call me whenever you feel the need.” I nodded and smiled.

“Thank you, Jughead. For everything, for being here for me, for keeping my secret, for bringing sandwiches for me every day. It really means a lot to me. Veronica is lucky to have you.” We smiled at each other. “So how have you been? Any situations with your dad?”

“I’m fine, I’ve actually been looking for a job and this afternoon I’m having an interview for a job at the drive-in. I’m kind of avoiding my dad, he’s been drinking more lately. It’s okay though, don’t worry about me.”

“I’ll try, but you know me.” I laughed and he joined. Then the bell rang and we each went our own way.

When I woke up Saturday, I got dressed first and then packed a bag for Veronica’s sleepover. I would be heading over early today, so we’d have some time to hang out before everyone else came. I skipped breakfast that morning, because I knew I’d eat quite a lot at Veronica’s. I hadn’t told my mom that everyone was coming, she thought it’d just be me and Veronica. She didn’t have to know either, she’d just make a fuss about it and I really wanted to go. Around 11:00am I went to Veronica. When I got there, I was about to knock when the door flew open.

“Betty! Finally, I’ve been waiting for forever! What took you so long?”

“I am early V, calm down.” I laughed. Veronica wasn’t even dressed yet, she still walked around in her pyjamas.

“You hungry? I made pancakes.”

“Bring it on.” I smiled as she pulled me towards the kitchen.

“I asked Jughead to come around 4:00pm, so he’d have some time to settle in before the rest arrived. That’s okay though, right?”

“Of course, that means we’ll have a little more than four hours for just the two of us, which is quite a while. Are you excited?” It was a stupid question to ask, as she was basically glowing with excitement.

“You can’t tell?” She giggled.

“So how have you and Jughead been? Any news?”

“Well, we hang out a lot, as you know. We always end with a hug, which is amazing. And the last two times as we were watching a movie, we cuddled up a bit. He’s amazing, Betty, I think I’ve fallen in love with him. It might be too soon to know for sure though, so I haven’t told him yet.”

“I’m happy for you, V. You both deserve someone nice, and it looks like you’ve found the one for you. Have you kissed yet?”

“I wish! Hopefully tonight though.” Her eyes sparkled as she said this, which made me laugh.

“You’re really cute, you know that?” I elbowed her in the ribs and then sat down at the table as she put down a plate with a few pancakes. I put some syrup on my pancake and started eating it.

“I’m glad to see you eating something non-healthy. You really have lost too much weight.” She said it softly, knowing it was a sensitive topic.

“My mom has been bothering me about it more lately, I can’t help it.” I hoped she’d let it go, and she did. “What did you have planned for us today?”

“Well, I was thinking some facemasks and a movie? And then we could make ourselves look pretty for tonight, with make-up and I could curl you hair?”

“Sounds good!” After we finished the pancakes, we did all of the things she’d mentioned and the whole time we were talking. It was only then that I realized how much I’d missed my best friend these past couple of days. I was glad we were having some time together before the party. As we were wearing facemasks and watching a movie, Jughead came in.

“Hey, girls. I hope I’m not interrupting?”

“No, not at all! Come, sit.” Veronica patted on the couch next to her, as she moved a bit closer to my side. He sat down and she instantly curled up against him as he put his arm around her.

“V! Facemask!” I yelled, just before she almost smudged it on Jughead’s shirt.

“Right, shoot. Let’s go wash them off.” She pulled me off the couch and we went to the bathroom to wash the masks off. When we were done, we went back and Veronica sat down on Jughead’s lap and he put his arms around her again. I felt a bit lonely, but pushed the feeling away. Instead I focused on how happy Veronica looked, and it made me happy too. After the movie was finished, Veronica turned on another, a musical movie. An hour or so in the movie, someone suddenly sang along with the song, but it wasn’t one of us. When I looked up, I saw Kevin. I got up and gave him a hug.

“Betty, don’t interrupt my singing! I was just getting to the good part!” He joked.

“Weirdo.”

“Hey, Kev! You want something to drink? Then grab it yourself. Glasses and drinks are in the kitchen.” She winked at him. I walked with Kevin to the kitchen and showed him where to get a glass and where to find the drinks.

“I’m glad you’re here, I felt a bit like a third wheel.” I laughed.

“Since when are Veronica and Jughead so close?” 

“Well, it’s been building up, but today is the first time I see them cosying up. It’s been going on for a while though.” 

“Well, now I’m here, to save you from being a third wheel.” Kevin said solemnly, which made me laugh. We walked back to the TV and sat down on the couch as well. Kevin smirked at me and then put his arm around me. Soon after that, Archie, Cheryl and Toni arrived too. Veronica ordered some pizza’s for us, of which Jughead ate most. I only ate half a pizza, a little bit concerned about my weight and I knew later tonight there would be a lot more snacks. As we were watching the third movie, Kevin suddenly threw a pillow in Archie’s face. He of course, threw one back, but missed and hit Cheryl. That’s how the pillow fight started. I hadn’t laughed so much and loud for a long time. At one point Veronica and I decided to stop throwing and dodging pillows, but to start and try to tackle the boys. I went for Kevin and Veronica for Jughead. Both boys didn’t expect it, so they were down quite quickly and easily. Then we went for Archie together, but he saw us coming. We tried our best, but couldn’t get him to the ground. When Cheryl pushed him from behind, he fell. She put her foot on his back and yelled:

“Victory for the girls!” Which Archie reacted on by suddenly tackling her so she was on the ground too. Toni didn’t let him have this victory without a price and threw herself in the wrestling match too. I didn’t know who was wrestling who, but I had a lot of fun anyway.

Around 12:30am, we all changed into our pyjamas. We could sleep in Veronica’s room and in the guestroom. Cheryl and Toni were quick to claim the guestroom and Veronica obviously slept in her own bed. Jughead and I joined her and Archie and Kevin had to sleep on the couches in the living room. 

“So, who’s gonna sleep where?” I asked.

“I’m not allowing anyone to sleep “alone”, so it’s either all of us on the ground or all of us in my bed.” Veronica’s bed was very big, so we agreed that we would sleep in her bed.

“I won’t be a third wheel though, so I’m sleeping in the middle.” I joked. 

“Sure. No problem.” Veronica said though. I didn’t expect her to agree and I also wasn’t sure if I really wanted to sleep in the middle, but I was too late now. Jughead changed in the bathroom and Veronica and I in the bedroom. When Jughead came back into the room, he asked if Veronica had something to eat for him. They walked downstairs together and I laid down in bed, in the middle. I was almost asleep when they came back.

“B, I brought you a cookie too. Here.” Veronica gave a cookie as she climbed in bed. Jughead walked to the other side and climbed in bed too. I moved a bit to Veronica’s side and obediently ate my cookie.

“Goodnight, guys.” Veronica said then. Jughead mumbled something that sounded like ‘goodnight’.

“Sleep well.” I said. Then Veronica cuddled up in my arms and we fell asleep holding each other. I was happy that at that moment, she’d chosen me over her soon-to-be boyfriend. I slept very well that night.

“Betty? Betty? Betty, wake up.” I heard someone say, as I slowly woke up. When I opened my eyes, I saw Jughead. I rubbed my hands over my eyes.

“Morning. What time it is?” I grumbled.

“Good morning. It’s 11:00am, we thought you might want to wake up.” I stretched.

“Yeah, thank you.”

“Kevin wanted to wake you up with that whipped-cream thing they do to sleeping people, but I managed to convince him not to.” I groaned.

“Thanks. Typical Kevin.” I chuckled.

“I’m going downstairs again, so you can get changed.” He walked out of the room again. I stretched once more and then got up and got dressed. I quickly combed my hair, put it in my signature ponytail and went downstairs. Everyone else was already sitting there, having breakfast.

“Good morning, sunshine!” Kevin greeted me. Veronica pushed me down on a chair and put down a plate with a toast with bacon and egg in front of me.

“I know what you were planning to do, Kev, so don’t act so innocent.” I grumbled and he laughed.

“Dammit, Jughead, you told her?”

“I just wanted to explain why I woke her.” He said. Then we all burst out laughing.

“I wish we didn’t have to school tomorrow, I’m having way too much fun just hanging out with you guys.” Toni said. We all agreed. After breakfast though, we all left one by one. Jughead and I were the last to leave.

“I had a great time, V. Thank you for organising this, we should do this more often.”

“Yeah, we definitely should! Your place next?” She winked at me and I grimaced.

“Were your parents out this weekend? I haven’t seen them.”

“They were, business trip. Perfect circumstance for a sleepover, right?”

“Definitely. Well, I’ll see you guys tomorrow again!” As I turned around to walk away, Jughead said:

“I’m leaving too, let me walk you home Betty.” He gave Veronica a kiss on her cheek and walked outside. I waved at her and followed him.

“So, are you and Veronica official now? Or not yet?”

“Well, I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it yet. You know, it made me happy to see how much fun you had last night.”

“It made me happy too.” I smiled. Then my smile faded. “Coming home now will be worse than usual though, my mom will probably have lots of things to say.” I sighed.

“Is it harder for you to go home after you’ve had fun? Knowing your mom will probably ruin your mood?”

“Definitely. Right now all I want is to stay away from home and her. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom, she’s just a bit much sometimes.”

“Betty, she’s making you believe you’re not good enough. A mother is supposed to support her child no matter what, not talk it down. And for you not wanting to go home, we could always got to Pop’s.” He offered.

“That would be great, actually. How is your mom? Does she support you and your sister a lot?” His expression got suddenly very sad, but then he quickly composed himself.

“Yeah, she supports us very much.”

“You know you can tell me anything, right? I see that there’s more to this story, but I won’t push you if you don’t wanna tell me. I do want you to know that if you want to tell me, I’m willing to listen.”

“I’ll tell you sometime, just not today.” He said, and I let it go. When we arrived at Pop’s, he ordered two milkshakes. We talked about school a bit and I reminded him to send me a photo from our shoot.

“Shit, I completely forgot. I’ll do it first thing when I’m home.”

“That’s fine. I’m curious to see what your favourite was.”

“Oh, that I already know. It’s a ‘behind the scenes’ shot, one where you’re not posing. I’m pretty sure you’ll like it too.”

“Jughead?”

“Yeah?”

“If I feel bad tonight, can I call you?”

“Of course. That reminds of something I wanted to ask you earlier. Can you promise me something?”

“Depends.” I was a bit hesitant.

“Whenever, and I really mean whenever, you feel like doing harm to yourself, will you please call me?” 

“You sure about that?”

“A hundred percent.”

“Okay then, I will. I promise.” I suddenly realized that lately I haven’t been digging my nails into my palms, which was good. Although I did cut myself almost daily now, which was probably even worse than digging my nails into my palms. I wondered now if one thing had something to do with the other. When we had finished our milkshakes, I felt like I really had to get home now.

“Let me walk you home, please.” He said, and I was happy to let him. We walked in silence most of the time, which was quite nice. He also walked quite close to my side, which I also didn’t mind. At one point I looked at him, and all the pieces suddenly fell together. Yes, I liked him. A lot. But I knew I couldn’t, Veronica loved him already and he also seemed to be into her. I realized that if I could only be friends with him, that that was fine. I’d rather be friends than not have any sort of relationship with him at all. I’d find someone else who would be meant for me one day. I also realized that I’ve liked him for quite a while, but I wouldn’t admit it to myself earlier. I felt at peace, knowing and realizing how I felt. I could accept it now. I knew it was okay for me to like him, as long as I wouldn’t act on it. That’d kill Veronica. One small problem though, now that I admitted to myself that I liked him, the urge to touch him had grown bigger. It took a lot of my self-restraint to keep myself from grabbing his hand or pulling him in for a hug. Then we arrived at my house and we stopped walking. He turned to me and we looked at each other for a while. I saw something in his eyes that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It was something between pain, happiness and fear. Then he suddenly pulled me in for a hug. At first I was surprised, but then I hugged him back. He pulled away too soon for my liking and then smiled at me.

“Take care, Betty. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I couldn’t talk, so I just smiled back and waved at him. He turned around and walked away. I went inside, ready to face the storm that was my mother, strengthened by Jughead’s hug.

“Elizabeth Cooper, you’re late. The sleepover ended an hour and a half ago. Where. Were. You.”

“At Pop’s. Sorry mom, I should’ve let you know.” I tried to stay calm, so we wouldn’t get into a fight. It was too late for that though.

“At Pop’s. Listen, Betty. I’ve been trying really hard to keep you safe and make you happy. A beautiful girl is a happy girl. Being beautiful comes with a price though, in your case it means less eating. I really want to help you, but if you keep going out to eat god knows what, I can’t do anything. It’s hard for a mother to see her child going through a rough time, especially when she won’t listen to good advice. Think about that for once instead of only about yourself. There’s more people in this world than you.” She turned around and walked away. I was shocked. I had expected something, but not this. I knew it wasn’t true, but my weak brain believed her anyway. I’d let her down when she tried to make me happy. I’d disappointed her and myself. I was wrong. I went upstairs and cried for an hour or so. I smelled the scent of food, but knew I wouldn’t be joining for dinner. Instead, I thought, I could go to the bathroom and find something to take the pain away I felt for disappointing everyone. Then I realized what I’d be looking for, would be something sharp. 

'Don’t. Call him instead.'

Only one voice in my head, only one thing to do. I hesitated, but then remembered I’d asked permission and that he’d said to call him anytime. So I grabbed my phone and then saw he’d send me a message, or to specify, a picture. I opened it, and like he’d said, it was beautiful. I was not looking at the camera, I was looking down at the ground, hugging myself. I looked very sad and happy at the same time, exactly how I always felt. This picture was a perfect representation of me and my life at the moment. It made me cry and I pressed the ‘call’ button. He picked up at the fifth ring.

“Betty? What’s wrong?” He sounded alarmed.

“You said– to call you– whenever I felt like… you know… doing it. So I guess that’s what– I’m doing now.” My voice broke a few times because I was crying. “And I just saw your picture.”

“It made you cry? Was it that bad?” He half joked.

“No, the opposite. It was perfect, a perfect representation of me. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, tell me what happened.” I told him what my mom had said and how it made me feel guilty. I heard him curse under his breath.

“That mother of yours really is a snake. Please, Betty, don’t believe what she said. It’s not true. A mother should help their children, but not in the way she’s doing. And her saying you only think and care about yourself is the biggest load of bull I’ve heard in my life. If there’s one person I know that should care more about herself, it’d be you. You’re way too selfless for this world, some self-care would be good for you. Honestly.” My crying had stopped, as he was talking reassuringly. 

“Thank you, Jug. You made me feel better.” That was the first time I’d shortened his name and I liked it. It felt right.

“No problem, Betty. Like I said, call me anytime you feel like hurting yourself. Do you still feel like doing that now though?” I thought for a second before answering.

“No, there’s no need to. I’m okay now.” 'Don’t hang up though.'

“Good. Then, if it’s okay with you, I’m going back to dinner. Is that okay?”

'No, I need you for just a little longer.' “Yes, of course. Have a nice dinner Jughead.”

“You too. Or wait, are you having dinner?” My silence was all the response he needed. “Don’t worry about lunch tomorrow, I’ll be there with another sandwich.”

“Thanks, Jughead. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Betts.” My heart swell, because he’d shortened my name. Just like I had his. I did some homework and then went to sleep, even though it was early.

The next month I watched Veronica and Jughead growing closer and closer, and with that Veronica becoming happier and happier. She always sat on his lap during lunch now and whenever their ways parted, they’d kiss. Not a long kiss, usually just a quick peck. Monday in school, after the sleepover, Veronica had very detailed and excitedly told me how Jughead had shown up at her house that morning to ask her to be his girlfriend. She said it was the cutest thing ever. Since he started working at the drive-in, she whined every day how much she missed hanging out with him every day. I told her multiple times to cut it out, but she was just being Veronica and I loved her for it. I called Jughead every night, because I felt worse every day. At school I was fine, but when I came home, I felt bad again. My mom had now changed her tactic of getting me to do what she wanted, instead of obligating me to do or not do certain things, she made me feel guilty every time when I’d “screwed up”, which was even worse than before. That month though, because I almost always called Jughead when I realized I was looking for something sharp, I had only cut myself four times. For me, that was a big step forward. Digging my nails into my palms had begun again though, which I thought had something to do with the fact that I wasn’t cutting myself anymore. I preferred that over cutting myself though, if I was being honest. I hung out a lot with Kevin these days, which was great. Physical contact between us was no exception anymore, we hugged all the time and he often gave me a quick kiss on my cheek. For outsiders, it’d probably look like we were dating. We weren’t though. I also started hanging out a bit more with Cheryl and Toni, which turned out to be a lot of fun. I’d spent at least one afternoon a week at Cheryl’s pool, sometimes swimming and sometimes just chilling. Cheryl was great at giving advices about some little problems I had, such as fighting with Polly. Toni was a great listener, who never judged and just sat there and listened. I could see how they worked well as a couple. At Cheryl’s we also did a lot of karaoke, which was so much fun. We laughed more than that we sang, but we didn’t care. Now Cheryl was planning a sleepover at her place, with the whole gang. Archie had started to spend more time with his football team than with us, which was fine. He’d always been that one person everyone liked, but no one liked the most. It was good for him to find some more friends instead of only us. He was invited to the sleepover though, as he still was a part of our group. I wasn’t really in the mood for a sleepover, but I pretended to be excited, as I always did. As cheerleaders we also were at every game and after school, on Tuesday and Thursday, we had practice. I always enjoyed those very much. We hadn’t yet missed a game and we had had bad weather, so as to fulfil the bet Archie and Cheryl had, Archie had joined the Variety show. He was pretty good, he played guitar and sang. He even admitted to liking it quite a bit. Today it was Friday and while I was in History, principal Weatherbee had an announcement.

“Students and teachers of Riverdale High, I have some news to share. The school on the Southside has been shut down, which means some of the students there are transferring to our school. If I remember correctly, we’ll be having 20 newcomers. I want to ask Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones to come to my office, I want you two to guide these new students through their transition. Thank you for your attention.” I looked to the back of the class to Jughead, who shrugged. We got up and walked to Weatherbee’s office. Once we got there, he motioned for us to sit down.

“Ms. Cooper and Mr. Jones. I’ve asked you here because I think you two would be the best to help these transfers. Mr. Jones because you yourself have been a transfer recently and Ms. Cooper because I noticed how you took Jughead under your wing. He turned out pretty good, I’d say. I want you two to give a quick tour of our school and help them get through at least their first week, kind of like a mentor. Any questions?” I looked at Jughead before speaking.

“Yeah, when are these students coming?”

“This Monday. Be here early.”

“Sure. Can we go now?” Jughead asked.

“Yes please, go back to class.” We got up and walked out of his office. We looked at each other and then broke out laughing.

“That was a weird conversation.” I said.

“So apparently, because I was a transfer two months ago, I’m supposed to be a good mentor. That’s bullshit. It’s fine though, as we’ll get to work together again.” He gave me a smile. I smiled back.

“That the bright side of things, definitely. I have no idea what to expect though and I’m pretty sure my mom would kill me if she knew about this. It’ll be fine though.”

“And if not, you know where to find me.” 

“Yes, I do. Well, I know where to find your number, I’ve never been to your house. Will I ever get to see it?”

“Not now. Maybe someday though.”

“Has Veronica ever seen it?” He shook his head. Then we’d arrived at our classroom and we silently got in again.

During lunch, Cheryl announced her plan for next weekend.

“I’ve been thinking of and planning a sleepover at my house, since our previous one at Veronica’s was a success in my opinion. I thought if we’d all bring swimming clothes, we could also hang out in the pool and stuff. My parents are out of town, so it’ll just be us. You should all come.” When she said that, she looked at Jughead specifically, knowing he wouldn’t voluntarily attend sleepovers.

“Fine, I’ll be there too.” He said.

“Great! If you could all come around 3:00pm, that would be good. I’ll order pizza for that night. Sleeping will be in all the many rooms in Thornhill, two people per room and one trio. I myself thought: Toni and I, obviously, and then Archie and Kevin and lastly Betty, Jughead and Veronica, since you three slept in one bed at your place too, Veronica. Someone who wants to object?” No one spoke, although the thought of sleeping in one bed with Veronica and Jughead again, made my stomach do weird flips. Then the bell rang and we all went to class.

The next day I had agreed to go to Veronica, to do some homework and just hang out. When I got there, I heard yelling from a female and a male voice. At first I thought it were her parents, but when I came closer, I recognised Veronica’s and Jughead’s voices. They were fighting over something, but I couldn’t figure out what. Just as I was about to ring the doorbell, the door flew open and Jughead came outside. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me.

“Betty. How long have you been here?”

“I was just about to ring the doorbell, so not long.”

“Did you hear anything?” He sounded worried.

“Only yelling, but not what. Are you guys okay?”

“Ask Veronica.” He said and walked away. Then Veronica appeared in the doorway.

“Hey, B. Come in.” I followed her to the living room.

“Did you guys have a fight?”

“Kind of, I think. We were both mad, so I guess we were. I just don’t get it.”

“What was it about?”

“I’m not even sure. I think he got mad when I said I thought I had to diet, because I was gaining weight. I don’t know B, it all happened so fast. And now he’s gone.” She started sobbing and I put my arms around her. I knew why Jughead had reacted strongly on her saying that, or I had a guess at least. It could have something to do with the fact that body image is something I’m really struggling with and Veronica looked amazing. It probably hit him wrong.

“He’s not gone for forever, you guys just had a fight. It’ll be okay.”

“B, this felt like the beginning of the end and it scares me. But what scares me even more, is that I’m not as heartbroken about that feeling as I thought I would be. I don’t wanna lose him, but I don’t feel like him being my boyfriend is the right way to hang out anymore. I love him though. It’s just all so confusing right now.” I kept comforting her, but didn’t say anything. I didn’t know what to say.

“You had great timing though, I really need you here now.” I tightened my hold on her.

“I’m happy to be here too, I would hate it if you had to be alone now. Is there something you wanna get of your chest?”

“Just that I’m confused. I wish I knew what I was feeling and that I knew what it meant. And I wish to know those things about him too.”

“Have you guys become less close these past few days, or was this unexpected?”

“Now that I think about it, this past week we haven’t kissed once. I didn’t notice before, maybe because I didn’t care?” She said is questioningly.

“When you picture you guys together, what would be the thing you’d want to do most?”

“I think just cuddle, or talk. I don’t picture us kissing anymore, as I would usually say would be my favourite thing to do. You know, I’m jealous of what you and Kevin have. Being close all the time, but nothing more. Just friends. I want that too, but with Jughead. Or at least, I think I do… I don’t know, B.”

“Within a few hours, you’ll be able to think about this clearly again, right now you shouldn’t make decisions. You’re sad and that’s never the right mood to make decisions.”

“Will you stay with me until I know? I don’t wanna be alone and my parents are out working.”

“Of course, we’d agreed on meeting today anyway, remember?”

“Right! I totally forgot, I’m so sorry!”

“Hey, it’s okay. What do you wanna do?”

“Can we watch a movie? A rom-com?”

“Sounds good. Any suggestions?”

“There’s this new movie, ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’. Shall we watch that one?”

“Sure, do you have it on DVD or Netflix?”

“Netflix.” Veronica laid down on the couch and pulled a blanket over herself. I started the movie and sat down on the couch too, putting her head on my lap. I kept stroking her hair as we watched the movie, which was awesome, by the way. When it was over, I asked Veronica a question.

“A life like that, with a boyfriend, do you see yourself and Jughead? Or not?”

“I don’t, not anymore. What does that mean, B?”

“I don’t know for sure, obviously. But I think it could mean your love for him, as a boyfriend, is over. You can still love him, but then it’s more the way you also love your family, the way we love each other. Kevin and I tell each other all the time that we love each other, but always as friends. How does that sound?”

“It makes me happy, right now I think that’s what I want with Jughead. I’m not sure though, I don’t wanna rush this decision.”

“And you shouldn’t, you might regret it for the rest of your life. If I were you, I’d sleep on it tonight and call him tomorrow. You can’t lead him on, he doesn’t deserve that. When you know, you should tell him.”

“I will. Thank you, B, for being here for me and putting up with my crying.”

“Always, V. It’ll be okay, I promise.”

“I know, it’s just hard right now.”

“That’s fine, as long as you also move on soon, but soon as in like a week or something. It’s okay to feel sad and bad about this for a while, but don’t stretch that feeling longer than necessary, at one point it’s over, you know.”

“Yeah, I’ll do my best. Not that I want you gone, but you’re mom’s probably gonna kill you if you don’t go home now. It’s 3:30pm already.”

“Shoot. Thanks for the reminder, I gotta get going. I’ll see you on Monday, and remember, you can always call me, ‘kay?”

“I will, see you Monday!” I rushed home and luckily was on time. I instantly went upstairs, wanting some time for myself. When I opened my phone, I saw a missed call from Jughead, two hours ago. I felt guilty; he was always there for me when I called him and now he’d call me and I didn’t pick up. I quickly called him back. He picked up sixth ring.

“Hey, Jug. You called me? Some time ago, sorry.”

“Hey, Betty. Yeah, I did. I was wondering if you and Veronica talked about us having a fight earlier?”

“We did, that’s why I didn’t see you had called before. She’s very confused right now, but we agreed she’d call you tomorrow to talk.”

“So she’ll call me tomorrow?”

“Yeah, that was the plan.”

“Okay, then I won’t call her now.”

“That’s probably a good idea. She really needs some time to think. I helped her a bit, but now she has to figure it out on her own.”

“Can you maybe tell me what direction you think this’ll go, based on what V said?”

“As long as you keep in mind this is not her final answer and that it could change.”

“I will.” He waited for me to speak. I took a deep breath before answering.

“I don’t really feel like this is my place to say, but what I think is that she’s gonna ask you to just be friends. She doesn’t really picture you guys kissing and stuff anymore.” I was afraid of his reaction, but I didn’t expect his answer.

“Me neither, if I’m being honest. I do really like her though, so I definitely hope that no matter what outcome, we’ll at least stay friends.”

“She hopes the same thing. But I’m not gonna say any more about this, that’s for your conversation tomorrow.”

“Yeah, good point. I’ll catch you Monday.”

“Good luck, Jug. See you on Monday.” He hung up after that. I did some homework and then went downstairs to play a game with my family. We laughed a lot, as always, but didn’t talk much.

“Hey, Charles, shall we maybe go see a movie tomorrow? It’s been ages since we last hung out together.” I asked.

“Sure, what movie do you wanna see?”

“I don’t know, whatever is playing I guess.”

“Well, then, sure. We’ll leave around 7:00pm?”

“Sounds good.” My mom looked pleased that we were hanging out together. After that we had dinner, I had a salad and then I went upstairs to do some more homework. When I was done, I fell asleep, suddenly exhausted.

The next morning, the ringing of my phone woke me up. I picked up quickly.

“Wassup? Who dis?”

“Good morning, Betty. This is Veronica, did I wake you?”

“Yeah, kinda. That’s fine though, what’s up?” I stifled a yawn.

“I just talked to Jughead. He came over after I called him. We broke up, but we’re still friends. We both didn’t feel like doing more than just cuddling and hugging, so that’s basically what friends do so we decided to just be that.”

“How are you?”

“I’m fine. Mostly relieved that he’s not upset or anything, that he felt the same way. I think we made the right decision.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Is there anything else you wanna say or tell me? Otherwise I’m gonna have breakfast now.”

“Nope, that was it. I’ll see you tomorrow, have a nice day!”

“You too, V! See you tomorrow!” I went down to eat a cracker and then settled down on my bed again to do a ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ marathon, as I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I considered calling Jughead, but decided against that idea. Just before dinner though, he called me.

“Hey, Betty. I was wondering if maybe you’d wanna go on another photography trip with me? Just for fun? And no, this has nothing to do with Veronica and me breaking up, I was just looking at the photos from the last time and I got excited to take more.” I decided to fool around a bit.

“You and Veronica broke up? Really? When, this morning?” He was quiet for a while.

“I thought Veronica would’ve told you… Sorry, I wouldn’t have said it like this if I knew you didn’t know yet.” I burst out laughing. I could almost hear the ‘click’ in his brain when he realized I was joking.

“You mean, little thing. I almost got a heart attack.” He chuckled relieved, but still shocked.

“I’d love to do that, Jug. When?”

“Now who’s the one for quick subject changes, eh? How about this Wednesday?”

“Sure, right after school again?”

“Sounds good. I’ll take care of the clothes, just as before.”

“Great! I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Betts.” My heart jumped when he shortened my name for the second time. Then I hung up and went downstairs to eat dinner, a salad. I was really excited to do another photoshoot with Jughead, it made me immune to the hate comments my mom and Polly threw at me. I just ignored them and kept a smile on my face. After dinner, I cleaned the kitchen and then my room. Then Charles and I went to the Bijou to watch a movie and after that, I went to sleep, for the first time since days without having hurt myself in any way throughout the day. I rarely cut myself anymore, but the cuts on my palms were fresh almost every day. I could live with that though. I fell asleep, feeling happy and proud.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will you join her, Juggy? ;)  
Another photography trip :)  
Talking is between " en Betty thinking between '

The next day in History, Veronica sat down next to me.

“I’m kinda scared to talk to him again, I don’t know how it’ll be and I’m scared it’s gonna be awkward.”

“It’ll be fine, you weren’t really fighting about something big when you broke up, so I don’t think there’ll be any problems. Just be yourself and still behave the same with him, you guys are always talking. Nothing should change because you’re not boy- and girlfriend anymore. I know it’s easier said than done, but like I said, it’s not like something big happened between you guys, the love was just gone.” Then I was suddenly pulled from my chair and dragged out of the classroom. It was Jughead.

“Jughead, what the hell? What are you doing?”

“Those transfers, I forgot about them completely.”

“Shit, me too. What now?”

“They won’t be here till the first break, so we have a little bit of time to prepare.”

“What are we supposed to prepare though?”

“I honestly have no idea.” We both laughed shortly.

“We’re screwed.” I stated. He nodded, glumly. “Wait! We were supposed to do a tour, that’s doable. What else?”

“Their schedules and maybe a map?”

“Schedules, good idea. Map, no. That’s definitely too much. Anything else?”

“Hey, are you letting me do all the thinking? You have a brain too and a pretty good one. Use it.”

“I’m not a dog, you can’t tell me what to do.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yep, positive.”

“Really, really sure?” He said defiant.

“Bring it on.” He put his hands on my shoulders and slowly leaned his face closer to mine. For a second I was afraid he’d kiss me, but he wasn’t stupid. He brought his mouth up to my ear and whispered:

“Please, Betty? Please think for me.” He basically begged me. I don’t know how he did it, but I stuttered an answer.

“W-we could m-maybe set them up w-with an extracurricular? O-or at least t-tell them about it?” He chuckled then.

“I won.” I pushed him away.

“You play unfair.”

“You never talked about rules, so I can’t have played unfair. I won.”

“Fine, you won.” I grumbled. “But what about my idea? Was it good?”

“Yeah, let’s do that. Weatherbee can be proud of our awesome preparation, don’t you think?”

“Definitely. Now let’s go fix those schedules.” We walked to principal Weatherbee and asked him for the schedules of the students. He gave one to us and we printed 20 more. We also wrote down all different extracurriculars, so we wouldn’t forget one or have to think for a long time. I just hoped the students were nice and interested. I was raised to be afraid of the Southsiders, but I tried my best to go in open-minded.

“Jug?”

“Hmm?” He was lost in thought.

“Will you tell me about your family this Wednesday?”

“Maybe. I don’t know yet.”

“You’ll tell me some time though, right?”

“Yes, I will. I promise.” I looked at him, but then I noticed a door to a room I’d never been before. I walked towards it and opened the door. I walked inside and it looked like an old newspaper office. 

“Oh my god, Jug, I think this is from the newspaper this school used to have, the ‘Blue & Gold’! It still exists!” I got super excited.

“This school had a newspaper?”

“Yeah, when I first came her, I’d seen one edition. After that, it was shut down due to lack of interest. Maybe we could reopen it! You like writing, right?”

“I do. What’s your idea?”

“We could ask principal Weatherbee to reopen the newspaper, with us running it! Wouldn’t that be awesome! I’m sure we could breathe some new life into it! Will you join me, Juggy?” That shortening of his name rolled out without thinking. He looked at me both surprised and happy. He liked it, I guess.

“Sure, I’ll join. We’ll go talk to Weatherbee tomorrow or something, today we gotta focus on those newcomers.” I nodded in agreement. We walked out of the room again and continued prepping.

One hour later, it was time for the new students to arrive. I suddenly got a bit nervous. Jughead noticed and squeezed my shoulders. 

“It’ll be fine.” He whispered, reassuringly.

“I hope.” Then principal Weatherbee came up to us.

“Have you two prepared something?”

“We have, of course. We’ll be talking about extracurriculars, giving a quick tour and we printed out schedules for each one of them.” Principal Weatherbee nodded approvingly and then walked away again. Then we heard the front door open and 20 students walked in. We walked up to them.

“Hi, I am Betty Cooper and this is Jughead Jones. We’ll be giving you a short tour and some information about the school. Follow us please.” I looked at Jughead and saw that he was frozen in shock. His gaze was pointed towards some people in the group. I tugged on his arm.

“Jughead, come on.” I whispered. He shook his head and then walked with me. The other students followed us. We showed them around the whole school and I told a bit about its history. Jughead talked a bit about extracurriculars, but remained silent for the biggest part, still shocked because of something I didn’t know. When we were back at the front exit, I handed every student a schedule and helped them all find their first class. Then it was just me and Jughead again. I looked at him.

“What?” I asked.

“What do you mean ‘what’?”

“I saw you looking shocked when you saw these students, why?” I demanded. I wouldn’t let him get away without answering me about this.

“It’s part of the story about my house and family, please don’t let me do this now.” He begged me.

“Fine. Tell me soon though, I wanna know.”

“I will. Soon.” Then we each went our own way. 

At lunch, Veronica was dying to know why Jughead had pulled me out of class. She basically attacked me when she saw me.

“Betty! What happened? What did you do?”

“Relax, V, you’re choking me.” She let go. “Thanks. Jughead and I needed to prepare for those new students, we had forgotten all about it. So that’s what we did and then we welcomed the new people to our school.”

“Did you guys talk about me?” I shook my head. Then we walked to our lunch table and sat down. We were the first two. I saw Archie sitting with his football friends, so he wouldn’t be joining us. I saw that Cheryl and Toni had crept into an empty classroom, so I didn’t expect them to come either. So it’d be just Veronica, Kevin, Jughead and me. Kevin and Jughead walked towards us together, laughing. Well, Kevin was laughing, Jughead just smiled. They sat down across from us.

“Hey. Lemme tell you guys something crazy.” Kevin said, naughtily. 

“Don’t you dare.” Jughead said, threatening.

“Kev, tell us!” Veronica yelled, before Jughead could prevent him.

“Jughead here–” He was strangled by Jughead then, so he couldn’t continue talking. Veronica and I, curious as we were, got up and started pulling Jughead away from Kevin. It resulted in me falling to the ground, pulling Veronica and Jughead with me and Kevin being free to speak.

“Jughead here thought I was straight and that we were dating, Betty!” He quickly half-screamed.

“What?” I burst out laughing. Veronica laughed too, Jughead looked ashamed.

“How was I supposed to know?” He tried to defend himself.

“By just looking.” Veronica said. She and I giggled.

“I did, and I saw… You know, never mind.” He realized that whatever he said, would only make him look more stupid, so he shut up. Veronica and I laughed out loud now, and Kevin joined. Jughead got up and offered first Veronica a hand to help her up and then me. As he pulled me up though, I lost my balance and fell forward. He quickly steadied me, but now our faces were inches apart. I quickly stepped back and looked at the ground. Then we sat down again and I opened my lunchbox to eat my salad.

“To be more rebellious than usual, I brought you a small burger today, Betty.” Jughead handed me a burger the second I’d finished my salad. I saw it was without pickles, with extra cheese, just how I liked it. That surprised me, as Jughead and I had never eaten a burger together before.

“How did you know to get one without pickles and with extra cheese?”

“You once told me that’s how you used to eat your burgers. I guess I remembered.”

“Thank you.” I smiled at him. The burger was delicious. The four of us chitchatted throughout the rest of the break.

Tuesday felt longer than usual, probably because I couldn’t wait for it to be tomorrow, as Jughead and I would do a photoshoot again. When it was Wednesday, I couldn’t wait for the school day to be over. That, of course, made the time pass slower. When I sat next to Kevin, he was talking about a new, gay student, whom he’d talked to a few times already. His name was Fangs and he was one year younger than Kevin. Kevin really liked Fangs, so far just as friends. He thought he and Fangs would be good friends. I secretly hoped they would become more than friends, as Kevin deserved to have such kind of happiness. Not many boys were gay in Riverdale, so Kevin didn’t often have a shot at romance. Maybe Fangs would be the one for him though. When the last bell rang, I rushed to change after PE and went outside. He was already waiting for me, sitting on the steps, and he hadn’t seen me yet. I considered for a moment to scare him, but instead I sat down next to him.

“Hey, Jug. You’re ready?” He smiled when he saw me.

“Hey, Betty. Yeah, are you?” I nodded. We got up and started walking. I had no idea where to, but he seemed to have a destination in mind. We walked into the forest again, but this time we stopped in a big field full of yellow flowers and a small lake.

“It’s so beautiful here! How’d you find this?”

“Same as the last one, just by walking around a lot. I brought something a little more revealing this time, I hope that’s okay?” He opened a bag and took out a blouse, which had the front put in a knot which made it pretty short, and a long, flowy skirt. Both were black. 

“I’ll try it on and decide then.” I said. He turned around, so I could get changed. When I was done, I didn’t let him know instantly. I first looked at myself. The blouse had long sleeves, which I was grateful for. I was a bit unsure about the shortness of it though, half of my stomach was exposed.

“Jug? I’m done. I’m not sure about this blouse though, isn’t it too revealing?” What I meant though, was ‘isn’t it pulling the attention too much to my not-so-pretty stomach’. 

“Betty, you look amazing. Trust me. You’re not too fat or anything, this just exposes some more of your beauty.” I was a still a bit uncertain, but that changed instantly after he said: “If you really don’t want it, I brought a long, black dress too.” The fact that he didn’t expect me to wear this, made my heart swell. He kept in mind my insecurities by bringing an alternative. As a ‘thank you’, I said:

“I’ll wear this, I quite like it. It’s something else, but I’ll get used to it. And I’m with you, so it’s okay.” I smiled.

“Thank you, Betty. Could you maybe do your hair down too?” I did and he continued. “Now, please go stand over there and look away over the water.” He kept asking me to do different poses and keep my head at different angles, stand in different places. The longer we were shooting, the more comfortable I got. After about ten minutes, I didn’t give it a second thought anymore, my short blouse. He noticed that, and asked me for more revealing poses. Not too revealing though, just a little playful, like bending backwards and running my fingers through my hair. After about an hour, he called it quits. I walked over and he offered me a sandwich.

“No cookies this time?”

“Sorry, I didn’t have time to go to the bakery. I did bring some fresh orange juice though.” He offered me a bottle and I gladly took it. I loved orange juice, especially fresh. I took a sip and then sighed, contently.

“This is amazing, Jug. Best I’ve ever had.”

“Would you believe me if I said I made it myself?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t though. I bought it when you had PE.”

“Did you know I love this too, or was that just a lucky shot?”

“I’d like to say I knew, but this was a lucky shot. I’m glad you like it though.” We finished our sandwiches, one for me, five for him and our orange juice. Then he laid down with his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. He looked so handsome, that it took me everything I had to not kiss him at that point. Instead, I laid down with my head on his stomach, my hands folded on my own and he started stroking my hair. It felt amazing, his fingers combed really softly and carefully through my hair. We laid there in the sun for what felt like forever, but when he said we should start heading back, it was still too soon. I sat up though, and looked at him. He sat up too and looked at me too.

“You looked really beautiful today, Betts. You always do, but during our shoot even more. It was nice to see you posing so carefree and to see you actually being happy. It made me happy too.” I felt my face redden, so I looked down.

“Thanks, Jug. I had a great time.”

“We should do another shoot again, sometime soon.”

“Definitely.” Then we got up and he walked me home. It was quite late when we got there, but not too late. I turned to Jughead to say goodbye, but he surprised me by pulling me in for a hug, for the second time since we met. I was still wearing the short blouse, so his hands were on my bare back. That sent some electric sparks through my body. I hugged him back, tightly. When he let go again, I felt reluctance from the both of us. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow again, Betty.”

“Bye!” Then I turned around and went inside. I was planning on going to my room instantly, so I wouldn’t have to talk to my mother and explain where I had been, but I didn’t get the chance.

“Elizabeth Cooper, where were you?”

“Out.”

“Well, no shit Sherlock. What were you doing?”

“I was doing a photoshoot.” I suddenly realized I hadn’t changed back into my own clothes, which also meant Jughead now had them.

“I can’t believe anyone would take a photo of you wearing that outfit. Although, considering it was Jughead you went with, I can imagine. He’s probably jerking off to those photos now.”

“Mom! Gross! And so not true! Jughead is so not what you think and I’m sick of you talking trash about him! In case you didn’t know, he and Veronica dated for a while. Do you now hate Veronica? No, because she’s a pretty girl besides that. If I were to date him, you’d hate that. You’d hate it, you’d say I would’ve lost that last bit of dignity I still had. Because in your opinion I’m not pretty enough, not skinny enough, not good enough! That’s not true!”

“Betty, honey, I only say those things to help you to keep growing and never take anything for granted. You can always be more than you are and I want you to never give up on anything. I mean it when I say it’s for your own good. When you’re older, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.” She said it all so calmly, that it caught me off guard. I didn’t have my response ready and my mom took advantage of that. “I hope you know I love you and never have any bad intentions whatsoever. I just don’t want you making mistakes that’ll ruin your life forever. I’m only trying to protect you from that. Please try to see that for once, Betty. I’m only looking out for you.” She was fucking with my mind, I couldn’t think straight anymore. She wasn’t done though. “Now go upstairs and work out a bit, to lose some more weight. Nobody loves a fat girl.” Confused, I went upstairs. What had just happened? I was lost inside my own brain. Then one thought came through: 

'You always try to see the worst in people. All this time your mom has been trying to help you and all you did was talk trash about her. Way to go, kid. Maybe try to show some gratitude next time, before she gives up on you. You’ve been bad lately, and now everyone thinks your mom’s a monster, while she was just trying to protect you. You screwed up, bad.'

I would usually call Jughead when I’d feel bad, but now I couldn’t. I wanted to, but my hands would only reach for the knife that was in my bedside table. I should’ve taken it downstairs a long time ago, but I kept forgetting to do that. I rolled up the sleeve of the blouse, changed my mind and pulled it over my head, and pressed the knife against my skin.

'Do it. Punish yourself, you deserve it. You’ve been terrible, this is the only way to forget and move on.'

I pressed the knife in the skin on my forearm and cut one big, deep cut. The blood came gushing out. I dropped the knife and went to the bathroom, cursing. Why, why did I have to be like this? Why did I always have to ruin good days? Why did I always criticize myself, why was I never enough? What was wrong with me? Why did I keep cutting myself? Why am I constantly lying to myself? Why am I dragging Jughead into my mess by calling him so often? Why was I such a failure? As I was cleaning my cut and waiting for the blood to stop flowing out of it, I suddenly sunk to the ground and broke out crying. I laid there for I don’t know how long, but when I got up, there was a little bit of blood on the ground and a bit in my hair. While still crying, I cleaned the floor and took a shower. Then I bandaged my arm and went to bed, crying myself to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading my story and leaving kudos, it really means a lot to me! This is my first story ever, as you may or may not know and to have it reaching so many people is insane! I hope you like this story so far! I can promise you that more Bughead is on the way :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bughead development :) Slowly as always tho  
More about Jughead's history as well :)  
Talking is between " and Betty thinking between '  
This is my longest chapter yet :)

When I woke up that morning, I felt terrible. My arm hurt like crazy and my throat was dry from all crying. I’d woken up six times that night, feeling like I was suffocating. When I looked in the mirror, I saw that my eyes were still red and that my skin was paler than usual. My hair had dried while I was asleep, which meant it was one big mess. I combed through it anyway, and after a few minutes, I was able to put it in a ponytail. Then I put a clean bandage around my arm and got dressed. I went downstairs to eat, as always, a cracker. Just as I was about to leave, the doorbell rang. I opened the door and saw Jughead.

“Hey. What are you doing here?”

“Hi. You didn’t call or text last night. Not that you had to though, but I also felt worried. So I decided to walk you to school today, just so I could see you myself and so you could, if you’d want, talk to me.”

“Thank you. Lemme say bye to my family.” I turned around and said bye to everyone. No one asked me who it was at the door and no one was surprised that I was leaving alone. I walked back to the door and was for some reason surprised to see Jughead still standing there. I walked outside, closed the door behind me and then we walked to school together.

“So, are you okay? And were you okay yesterday?”

“No and no. I don’t want to bother you with it though, I’ll be fine.”

“Betty, you’ll never bother me. I care about you and want to be there for you. Please talk to me.” Instead, I rolled up my sleeve to reveal the bandage. He gasped.

“What did you do?”

“Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as it looks.” I put my thumb and index finger at either end of my cut, to indicate the size of it. Then I realized it was quite a big cut, a little more than 2 inches. He shook his head.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I couldn’t. My mom was brainwashing me before, by saying she loved me and that she was saying all those things to protect me from everything and saying it was for my own good. She sounded way too friendly, and it was fucking with my mind. I couldn’t think clearly after that and she’d been mean about you again and she made me feel like I shouldn’t ever talk to you again and then I started hating myself for dragging you into my mess and I just–” We’d stopped walking and he’d grabbed my shoulders and was now looking straight into my eyes.

“Betty, breathe.” I obeyed. “Good. Now listen to me. Carefully. I decide what I want you to tell me and what not. It’s my responsibility to take good care of myself, not yours. If I say you can call me whenever, I say it because I mean it and I really want you to. I wouldn’t have said it if I hadn’t wanted you to. I want to be there for you and help you through whatever you’re going through. It’s my own responsibility. Do you hear me?” I nodded. “Good. Now come here.” He pulled me in for a hug and held me tight. Then I started sobbing and he rubbed my back. We stood there in the middle of the sidewalk for a few minutes before I stepped away.

“We have to go to school.” I really didn’t want to go though.

“Yes. Are you up for it though?”

“No, but that’s fine. I’ll just pretend, as always.” He didn’t seem to approve, but kept his mouth shut. We walked to school and just before we entered, I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders and put a small smile on my face.

“I’m ready.” We walked inside and sat down in the back of the class in History. I gave Veronica a thumbs down so she knew that I wasn’t feeling well. She gave me an ‘I’m sorry you feel bad’ look. School that day was torture. I sat in the back of the class as much as possible and during the breaks, I hid in the bathroom. I cancelled cheerleading practice for that afternoon, knowing there was a big chance I’d break down somewhere during it. At home, I cried in bed the whole afternoon, joined my family for dinner and a game afterwards, pretending nothing was wrong and then cried myself to sleep. I hadn’t felt so miserable in a long time. When I woke up the next day though, I was feeling a bit better. I didn’t feel like crying anymore, which was nice. At school, I was able to socialize again and I saw Veronica, Kevin and Jughead being relieved. Cheryl talked about our sleepover the next day the entire break, she was stoked. I was happy to be away from home, so I was quite excited too. 

“Cheryl, is it okay if I come a bit earlier than planned? I could help you set up and we’ll get a chance to catch up in peace.”

“Great idea, Betty! What time were you thinking?”

“Around 11:00am?”

“Sure.” That afternoon, I packed my bag for the sleepover. I suddenly became aware of a little problem; I still had a bandage around my arm, which no one had seen except Jughead because I’d worn long sleeved shirts. When wearing a bathing suit though, it was visible for everyone to see. I wasn’t really sure what to do, so I called Jughead.

“Betty? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing big, don’t worry. I was packing my bag for the sleepover and realized I’d be bringing a bathing suit. I have that bandage around my arm though, and I didn’t really know what to do. Should I keep it on, or take it off? Should I bring a bathing suit or not? Help.” I heard him chuckling, relieved.

“Well, if I were you, I’d keep the bandage around your arm. You can just tell the others you fell and don’t want to get your wound dirty. They’d understand and you wouldn’t have to explain anything more. Definitely bring your bathing suit… Cheryl would kill you if you didn’t.” He quickly added. I laughed.

“You will bring it too, right?”

“I have no choice, I’m pretty sure if I didn’t, Cheryl would make me swim naked.”

“She probably would.” We laughed.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see ya Jug!” I hung up and finished packing. Then I did some homework and went to bed.

I woke at 9:15am and got up. I was planning on walking to Cheryl’s, which was about 30 minutes. That meant I had about an hour and a half to get ready. I put a clean bandage around my arm and got dressed. When I went downstairs, I saw the table was made for five people, and there were five plates with a slice of bread on it. I was surprised, these last few months I’d been having breakfast alone and just a cracker. Then I saw my mom, who must’ve seen the surprise on my face.

“I thought you might wanna join us for breakfast for a change. You can have some bacon and eggs too for once, as it’s Saturday.” She said. Her logic was off, but I didn’t comment. I just sat down and waited for everyone else to wake up. Around 9:45am, we had breakfast. For once, we were all in a good mood and we had a casual conversation. Polly asked me to say ‘hi’ to her boyfriend, Jason, Cheryl’s older brother. Charles said he hoped I would have fun and mom and dad were excited for me too. I was surprised; since when had everyone started to be positive about me? All the pieces fell together though when my mom said:

“We’ll be going to Seattle this weekend, but we don’t know what time we’ll be home tomorrow though. I guess you’ll see us when you see us. I’ll text you whether we’ll be home for dinner or not.” They were all going on a family trip without me. That’s why they were so excited and happy. Weirdly enough though, I didn’t really care. If I would’ve had the choice between going somewhere with my family and hanging out with my friends, I would’ve wanted to hang out with my friends anyway. 

“That’s great! Have fun together!”

“Thank you Betty, you too.” Polly said. Then I got up and put my plate in the dishwasher. I went upstairs to get my bag, called my last goodbye and walked to Cheryl. I got there a bit early, but Cheryl was ready for me. We had some real girl time; Cheryl did my make-up, not much, just simple, but still charming, we painted our nails, Cheryl bright red and me a pastel pink colour and then hung out at the pool, while gossiping about everything and anything. It was nice to have some one-on-one time with Cheryl, it had been too long since we last had that. We hadn’t changed into our swimsuits though, but around 2:45pm we went inside to change. The last few minutes we waited in silence, a nice kind of silence, not awkward. At 2:55pm, the doorbell rang. 

“Just come around!” Cheryl shouted and a few moments later, Veronica and Toni walked into view. Cheryl and I both got up to greet them.

“Quick, go inside and change. The weather is way too good to waste any second of it by being covered in clothes.” Cheryl said. She was right, the weather was really good. There were no clouds, only the big bright sun. It was around 75 degrees, I guessed. Next to show up, were Archie and Kevin. Cheryl sent them inside to change too, right after we greeted them. Just as Jughead was arriving, Kevin and Archie had picked me up and were walking towards the water.

“NO! Kevin, Archie, put me down NOW!” I screamed.

“Okay, we will. Kev?” Archie said, but he sounded way too happy for me to believe I wouldn’t end up in the water. I looked down and saw I was already above the water. Putting me down would mean dropping in the water.

“NO! I mean on dry land! Kevin! Archie! Don’t you da–” My threat was cut off by my mouth filling with water and a scream. The water wasn’t really cold, but still I felt a shock going through my body when I broke through the surface. A few seconds later, Veronica was dropped in the water too. Cheryl and Toni realized that they were next and ran away inside the house, Kevin and Archie chasing them. Jughead was looking around, a little confused.

“Hi! Go change inside, quick, before you’re thrown in with your clothes on!” I yelled at him. He obeyed. Just as he went inside, Archie came outside, carrying Cheryl over his shoulder. I heard Kevin from inside the house.

“Archie! Quick, she’s breaking away!” He was probably holding Toni until Archie was back. Archie quickly dropped Cheryl in the water, who screamed a high pitched scream and then went back inside to get Toni. Cheryl, Veronica and I were laughing and trying not to drown. We didn’t even bother climbing out of the pool, knowing we would be thrown right back in. When Jughead came outside again, I had to do my best not to stare. He didn’t have a six-pack or anything, like Archie, but he did look very good. He was quite lean, but still muscled. His stomach was flat with a small, black happy trail, which was quite sexy. I didn’t say this out loud though, of course. Then Kevin and Archie, carrying Toni, came outside too and dropped Toni in the water with the rest of us. Then they started wrestling each other, trying to get the other in the water first. It resulted in them falling in together. We swam to the side of the pool and I motioned for Jughead to help me out. He was so naïve. I put out my hand, he grabbed it and then I pulled him in. I heard everyone laugh and when Jughead came through the surface again, he looked at me scornfully, but in a playful way. We all hung out in the pool for a bit, before getting tired and climbing out, to rest on the loungers. I then realized that no one had yet commented on my bandage, which made me feel comfortable. Jughead had eyed it though, but he’d seen it before and knew what was under it. When we were all dried by the sun and it started to cool off, we went inside to change into our pyjamas. Then we watched a movie. No one had seen it before, so no one knew exactly what it was about. About half an hour into the movie though, I got a bad feeling about it. That feeling was confirmed when the lead actress removed her shirt and big scars were visible on her arm. Throughout the movie so far, we’d been shown how her life was going up and down constantly, her father had passed away and she had gotten a boyfriend. I swallowed once when I saw the scars and stiffened. No one noticed, except of course Jughead. He was looking at me, worriedly. I did my best to keep a straight face, but when they showed the woman searching for a knife in the kitchen, I couldn’t take it anymore. I got up and almost ran outside, wanting to get away from it. I heard Jughead mumbling something, but I didn’t hear what. When I was outside though, I heard the door open and close behind me again.

“Hey, you okay? Sorry, that’s a stupid question to ask.”

“What did you say?”

“I said that your mom used to do self-harm and that it’s hard for you to watch someone doing it, even if it’s only just acting.”

“Thank you. I can’t go back inside though, not yet.”

“Let’s go for a walk.” He suggested.

“Yeah, let’s do that.” We started walking in a random direction. Then he suddenly started talking.

“You remember how I promised I’d tell you about my family? Would you wanna hear it now?” I nodded, and he continued. “I was the first child of Gladys and FP, my parents. FP stands for Forsythe Pendleton, which is my official name too, Forsythe Pendleton Jones III. When I was four years old, my mom gave birth to a girl, who we call Jellybean. We were a happy family for quite a while, never had very much money to spend, but we had each other, which was enough at the time. When I was fourteen though, things went wrong. We were thrown out of our house, because we couldn’t pay rent anymore. We moved back to Sunnyside Trailer Park, where our trailer still stands. Two years ago, my dad lost his job. That was one year after we’d moved. My dad then didn’t know what to do anymore, and found his escape in drinking. My mom tried to find him a job, but every job he lost after the first day for showing up drunk. After half a year, she couldn’t take it anymore, grabbed Jellybean and left us. I was left behind with my always-drunk dad. I went to Southside High at that time. I was bullied a lot though and often beaten up. My dad was never sober enough to care. When those new students from Southside High came, I recognised some of them. They’d beaten me up quite a few times, once I even ended up in the hospital with a concussion, a broken jaw and three broken ribs. I’ve been trying to get a job ever since my mom left, but no one would hire a fifteen-year-old. A year ago, I moved out of the trailer too. I didn’t have anywhere to go though, so I slept everywhere and anywhere, mostly on the street. Then three months ago, my dad was sober for a day. I took advantage of that and asked him if I could transfer to Riverdale High. He agreed and it was settled that same day. The next day, I was at Riverdale High. My dad’s still always drunk, I’ve not heard from my mother or sister since they left and I sleep at the drive-in. That’s where I work now too. I’m trying to save up to buy a trailer on my own, but it’s gonna take a while till I have enough. That’s why I don’t talk about my family much and why I never have anyone over at home, because I simply don’t have a home.” I didn’t know what to say, instead I wrapped my arms around him. He hugged me back, and I could feel that I’d done the right thing, I felt the stress flowing from his body.

“I know you probably don’t want my pity, but I’m really sorry to hear that, Jug. I had no idea things were like this for you.”

“You’re right, I don’t want your pity, but thanks anyway, I guess.” He chuckled, but his heart wasn’t in it. We stood there embracing each other for quite a long time and I didn’t want to let go. Apparently neither did he, because he didn’t. Then we suddenly heard someone calling our names.

“Betty! Jughead! Where are you guys?! It’s late, we’re going to sleep!” It was Veronica.

“We’re coming!” We reluctantly stepped away from each other and walked to where Veronica’s voice was coming from. When we saw her, she asked:

“What were you doing? You’ve been gone for an hour!” Shit, that was long.

“We were just talking, about life, you know. Guess we lost track of time.” I said, hoping she’d buy it. She did.

“I was worried though, especially when you weren’t in the garden. Now come on. I’m tired, I wanna sleep.” We walked back to Cheryl’s house and once we were inside, we saw that everyone else had already gone off to bed. As we had changed into our pyjamas earlier, we just went to bed instantly. Me in the middle again and Veronica and I fell asleep in each other’s arms. Just before I fell asleep though, I felt Jughead stroking by back, which made me very calm and that was probably part of the reason that I had a great night of sleep.

I woke up when Veronica tried to wriggle out of my arms.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” She said, when she noticed I’d woken up.

“Oh, that’s okay.” I let her out of my arms and she went to the bathroom. She came back a few minutes later.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Early. It’s 7:30am, but I had to use the bathroom and it woke me up.” She climbed back in bed, after shooting a quick glance at Jughead. He was still fast asleep.

“You and Jughead weren’t kissing or something last night, right? When you were both gone for a while?”

“No, of course not. We’re both dealing with a lot of things and we talked about that. We did hug once, but we mostly talked.” It wasn’t a complete lie, there was a bit of truth in it.

“You know that if you ever wanna talk about something, I’m here for you too right?”

“Yes, V. Thank you for that.” I hugged her. “Now let’s try to get some more sleep.” 

“Yeah, let’s.” Veronica agreed. We fell asleep in each other’s arms again.

I was still half asleep when the blanket was suddenly pulled away from me and someone grabbed my ankles.

“NO! Let go!” I tried to hold on to anything basically, but before I knew it, I was sitting on the ground.

“Good morning, sunshine!” Kevin greeted me, way too enthusiastic.

“Fuck off, Kevin.” Still sitting on the ground, I pulled the blanket around me.

“Am I the last to wake up again?”

“Yep! We were waiting for you to come downstairs, to have breakfast together. Jughead started eating it all though, not being able to wait any longer. I thought that you might wanna have some breakfast too, so I decided to wake you up before everything would be consumed.”

“Thanks, Kev. The thought was nice, now work on the actual deed.” He chuckled and then walked downstairs again. I got up and decided to just bring the blanket downstairs, because I was too lazy to put on my sweater. I went downstairs and quickly grabbed three pancakes, not caring about what my mom would say if she were here. Jughead looked approvingly at me. I sat down on the couch next to Toni.

“Miss your bed so much you brought it down with you, B?” Veronica asked me, laughing.

“Kinda.” I laughed too.

“I relate though, it was that I needed food that I went downstairs, but I would’ve much rather stayed in bed.” Jughead said.

“Same. Just cuddled up with my Cherry.” Toni said, looking at Cheryl.

“Cuddling was my favourite part of last night too.” Kevin said. Archie looked up, surprised and confused.

“We didn’t cuddle, did we?” We all burst out laughing. “Geez, it’s too early for me to be able to function, let me be please.” Archie said, chuckling. After we had breakfast, I helped Cheryl to put everything in the dishwasher.

“Who cooked this breakfast? It was delicious.” I asked her.

“Toni and I did, so thank you. I’m glad you liked it. I was afraid for a moment that we would have too much, but I’d forgotten about Jughead’s never ending hunger.” We giggled.

“I honestly wonder how he does it though, eat so much but still look as good as he does. If I’d eat as much as him, I’d be rolling through life instead of walking.” I laughed.

“Same! When I ask him though, he says he doesn’t do anything, which I find hard to believe. But I guess that’s a secret we’ll never know. Oh, by the way, wasn’t it awkward sleeping with Jughead and Veronica in the same bed? As they recently broke up?”

“No, not at all. It’s not like they broke up fighting, so they’re just friends now.”

“And you and Jughead? Don’t think I don’t see the heart eyes there, Betty. I’m the love guru after all.”

“W-what heart eyes? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I tried to sound innocent, but I couldn’t lead Cheryl off her path.

“Don’t try to deny it Betty, it’s quite obvious.”

“For you obvious or for everyone obvious?”

“For me, I think. I haven’t heard anyone else about it. But tell me, what’s going on between you two?” I sighed, not wanting to tell her anything. It was nothing personal, I just didn’t want to tell anyone anything.

“We just talk a lot. We’re both dealing with some stuff and it’s nice to talk to each other about it.”

“Just talk, or…?” Exactly at that moment, Jughead walked in the kitchen. I mentally thanked him.

“I just came looking for some more food?” He said, questioningly. “Am I interrupting something here?”

“Nope, I was just asking Betty about you two.” He looked at me, confused.

“What about us?”

“Just that I’ve noticed some–” I punched her in the ribs, softly, but enough to make her stop talking. I looked at her, warningly. “Forget it. There’s cookies above the fridge.” Cheryl said. Neither of us were surprised that he was already looking for food even after we’d just had breakfast. When Jughead walked past me, he winked at me and I smiled at him.

“Yeah, nothing going on there.” Cheryl said, jokingly mocking. I gave her a look.

“I just don’t know, Cheryl. He and Veronica just broke up, it can’t be something between us. That’d be weird.”

“Wouldn’t you like it though?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“I think you do, but you just won’t admit it to yourself. Veronica and he were friends now right, and they’re good, you said. So what would be the harm if you guys would start dating?” She had a point, but I was in denial.

“It would be weird. I don’t know, right now I’m fine with how we are. Maybe later I’d want to date him, but not now.”

“Your loss. I know that that guy is smitten with you. Don’t let him go, Betty.” With that, she walked back into the living room, leaving me behind, confused. Jughead smitten with me? No way. There was no way he could be. Or was there? No. No, there wasn’t. Cheryl was imagining things. 

'Cheryl wouldn’t lie about it and she always knows when someone is in love or something like that. She’s never been wrong before, so she’s probably not wrong this time either.'

I badly wanted to believe that thought, but I was afraid to. I was afraid to get my hopes up and I was afraid that if it were true and we would start dating soon, that I would lose him. I couldn’t let that happen, without Jughead I would for sure sink back into the darkness he’d helped me escape form. Dating someone is a precarious kind of relationship, the chance of losing that person was bigger than if you were friends. I just couldn’t lose Jughead. I walked back into the living room, my eyes searching for Jughead. When our eyes met, my heart became filled with joy and all I wanted to do was sit on his lap. I couldn’t though, so instead I sat down on the couch in between Veronica and Archie. I shot Jughead a quick smile and he smiled back.

“So, what’s next on the agenda?” Archie asked.

“We could watch another movie?” Cheryl suggested.

“Or do a pillow fight.” Kevin said, while simultaneously throwing a pillow at Toni. Toni threw one back, but missed and the pillow hit Archie full on his head. A few seconds later, we were all throwing pillows at each other. My main aim was at Kevin, as a revenge for him waking me up. At one point, Veronica tried to steal the pillow I was holding, and we got in a wrestling match over the pillow. I won and hit her in her head with it, before throwing it at Kevin, who didn’t expect it and fell on the ground by its force. Not that I threw that hard, but he was already out of balance. As Archie tried to help him up, Kevin pulled him on the ground too, just like I had pulled Jughead into the water the day before. Sitting up, Archie looked around, stunned. His expression made us all laugh, me loudest of us all. Archie then tried to pull me down too, but I tried to hold on to Veronica so I wouldn’t fall. She wasn’t expecting it though, and we fell on the ground together, laughing. When we were done laughing, Cheryl suggested we’d all change into our normal clothes and play a game after. So we all went upstairs to change and I brought the blanket I still had around me, with me. When I looked in my bag, I saw that I only had a T-shirt and it has cooled down a lot over the night, so it was too cold to just wear that. Veronica only had one sweater, which she wanted to wear herself. So I asked Jughead.

“Hey, Jug. Do you maybe have a sweater I can borrow? I forgot to bring one myself.”

“Wow, Betty Cooper forgot something. Never thought I’d live to see that day.”

“Shut up.” He chuckled.

“Yeah, I have a sweater you can borrow. Here.” He handed me a dark red sweater, no hood. I pulled it over my T-shirt. It smelled great. He put on his Sherpa jacket, as always. Then we walked downstairs again. Cheryl eyed my sweater, instantly knowing it was neither mine nor Veronica’s.

“Yeah, definitely nothing.” She said, and she winked at me. I rolled my eyes. Then we all sat down at the huge dining table and played multiple games, until it was about 3:00pm. Archie was the first to leave, saying something about having to do homework. Kevin and Toni left right after Archie, and not long after they left, Veronica was being picked up. The second I realized it was just me, Cheryl and Jughead, I was eager to leave, afraid Cheryl would interrogate me and/or Jughead. I got up, but then Cheryl spoke.

“Leaving too, Betty? I thought me could watch another movie and I don’t wanna be alone quite yet, my parents won’t be home for another 3 hours. Please?” She begged me.

“Fine, one more movie.” I agreed. Then Jughead got up, but Cheryl grabbed his arm.

“You’re watching with us, unless you have something else to do?” Cheryl basically obliged him.

“Fine, I’ll stay too. One movie.”

“Oh, Cheryl, by the way, where’s Jason? Polly asked me to say hi.”

“You don’t know? He went away with your family.” Cheryl said. That shocked me. Polly had deliberately asked me to say ‘hi’ to Jason, even though she knew he was coming with her. Probably so I would ask where he was and Cheryl would tell me, just as it happened. To let me know she did have a boyfriend to go with her on family trips, to make me remember how bad and stupid I was. Sadly, it worked. Cheryl walked into the living room and I wanted to follow, but Jughead grabbed my shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, concerned.

“Just that Polly specifically asked me to say ‘hi’ to Jason, when she knew he was going with her. She tried to make me feel bad about myself, even when she wouldn’t be around. I hate myself for the fact that it’s working.” I hung my head. Jughead put his finger under my chin and tilted my head back up, so I had to look at him. His blue eyes bored into mine as he spoke.

“Just the fact that she has a boyfriend and you don’t, doesn’t make you bad. How many awesome people are out there in the world, just being single? Too many to count. Being alone doesn’t make you bad or something. It just means you haven’t found your soulmate yet. So don’t you dare keep thinking badly about yourself, or I will personally punish you for it. Trust me, you don’t want that. So cheer up and let’s go watch this movie.” He said it a bit strict, but still sweet too. I nodded and we walked into the living room together, to watch the movie Cheryl had turned on. It was a feel-good movie, which I appreciated. The three of us sat down on the couch, me in the middle. Throughout the movie, Cheryl kept creeping a little to my side, so I would move a bit too, closer to Jughead. I was well aware of her intentions, but I tried not to act on them. In the end though, I ended up under Jughead’s arm, which Cheryl had put around me while Jughead and I were laughing. She was not at all subtle about her hints and intentions. I didn’t mind sitting so close to Jughead though, and he seemed to be relaxed too. After Jughead had been forced to put his arm around me, Cheryl had laid down and put her head on my lap. We were still sitting like that when suddenly her parents entered the room.

“Cheryl, the party was supposed to be over when we came back. What are these two still doing here?” Penelope, Cheryl’s mother, asked, annoyed.

“I just didn’t want to be alone, mommy. So I asked Betty and Jughead to stay until you would be home.” Cheryl said, in a sugar sweet voice. 

“Betty, I’m sure your mom would love to hear you’re cosying up with that Jones boy. She’ll be pleased.” Penelope said, the snake.

“If it’ll make you feel better, I won’t be the one to stop you. I’ll hang out with whoever I want, regardless of what my mom says or thinks.”

“Getting an attitude, young lady? I would be careful with what you say now and leave immediately. Don’t feel welcome to come back any time soon.”

“Mom! You can’t decide who I’m allowed to invite over!”  
“We’ll see about that. This is my house, after all. Don’t you forget that, Cheryl. Now, Betty, Jughead, out!” She yelled. Jughead and I quickly got up, I gave Cheryl a hug and thank you and then Jughead and I walked outside.

“Geez, that mom’s a crazy one.” Jughead said.

“Tell me about it. Worst of all, she’s best friends with my mom. Me being rude will probably give me a few weeks on house arrest. Or my mom will make me clean the whole house, that’s probably more likely. Which basically has the same consequence, because cleaning the entire house is something that’ll take me a while to do. Damn it! Why do good days always have to end badly?” I yelled, frustrated.

“Maybe the good from this day doesn’t have to end yet?” Jughead said, mysteriously.

“What are you thinking?”

“We could go to Pop’s or something, drink a milkshake. And talk.” He added, softly. I swallowed.

“Yeah, sure.” I got nervous about the way he’d said ‘and talk’. What did he wanna talk about? Probably that he noticed I’d started liking him but that he didn’t feel the same way. Probably that we couldn’t be friends anymore. Probably something that’d ruin my life. Probably something–

“I said we’d continue the good of the day, don’t look so worried. Relax.” He said, interrupting my doom thinking. His fingers brushed mine as he spoke. I wanted to grab his hand and hold it, but I didn’t. When we got to Pop’s, we sat down in our booth in the back. The waiter came to take our order, and Jughead ordered two milkshakes and some onion rings. We waited for our drinks and rings in silence, knowing that whatever conversation we would start, would be interrupted by the waiter. When he’d brought our food, I said:

“You wanted to talk? About what?”

“About us. Cheryl made me realize something, when she forced us close together just now.” I waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. Instead, he stared at me. It somehow didn’t make me feel uncomfortable, as it would have if it had been anyone else. I looked back at him. Then he suddenly leaned across the table and softly stroke my cheek with his hand. I leaned into his touch, liking the way it made my cheek feel electricity-like sparks, in a nice way. He stroke my cheek a few times and then pulled his hand back again, sitting back as he did. We still stared at each other, but now we both also had a smile on our faces. After a few minutes, I realized that he’d started to say something just before he stroke my cheek.

“You were about to say something earlier. What was it? Why did you wanna talk about us?” He visibly swallowed and then started speaking, while searching for words. It was really cute.

“Well, just now, when Cheryl, you know, basically pushed you in my arms– Well, I uhm, I realized something. Something that I have– have probably known for, quite some time, I think. I just didn’t want to admit it before, or something, I guess. And I wasn’t sure at first, mostly because of Veronica, who drove me crazy in a good way. Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say, is… Well… I don’t know, Betty. You make me feel things I haven’t felt before. You make me wanna do things I’ve never wanted to do before. Nothing sexual, just other stuff, I think. I don’t know, that’s something you do too. You confuse me, both good and bad. I just don’t know, but I wanna know. I don’t know what I wanna know exactly though, which is confusing again. Uhm, I– Uh, please, help me out here.” He chuckled, nervously.

“I think I know what you mean better than you think. I relate to everything you just said, but like you, I’m confused too. I just don’t know, Jug. So let’s just hang out together more, to figure out what it is between us.”

“Yeah, I like that idea.” I was glad to see him smile again, although him searching for words and being nervous was the cutest thing I’ve seen in my entire life.

“Also, something I wanna get off my chest. You know, yesterday at the pool, I have to admit it was kinda hard to keep my eyes off of you, you looked great.” I felt awkward and a bit cringy saying this out loud.

“Thank you. It was the same for me though, with you. Let’s go do a beach photoshoot someday.” That came out of nowhere, but I was instantly excited.

“That’d be awesome, we definitely have to. Now I really have to go home though, before my family arrives again.” He nodded and we got up. I was about to pay, when he stopped me.

“Let me pay for this.”

“You’ve been paying almost every time we go here, let me pay for once.”

“It’s something small I can do for you, please let me. It makes me happy, like I’m giving you gifts all the time. Please.”

“Fine, but only because you were adorable just now.” He rolled his eyes and paid. Then we walked to my house. Half way there, his fingers brushed against mine again, just as before. This time I couldn’t contain myself, and I intertwined my fingers with his. He tightened his hand around mine, and I hadn’t felt so safe in forever. We walked hand-in-hand and in silence, both of which were really nice. I was reluctant to let him go though, when we arrived at my house. I saw that my family wasn’t home yet, so I decided to invite him in.

“Will you please come inside with me?” 'I can’t let you go yet.'

“Sure. You have food?” I rolled my eyes.

“Of course I do. That I don’t eat much, doesn’t mean that my family doesn’t either.” I joked.

“So they just eat and you’re watching them or something? How does that work?” He asked, as I was opening the door.

“Well, for breakfast, I never join. I usually make breakfast, while eating a cracker and yoghurt and when they come downstairs to eat, I go to my room. Then lunch is always at school, but on the weekends, we never have lunch together, so no one notices when I skip that. For dinner, I always get a salad while they eat whatever. It sucked at first, but now I’ve gotten used to it. It’s just the way it is now.”

“It’s bad though. Doesn’t anyone speak up about it?”

“My mom and Polly are the ones that put and keep me on this diet, my father would never disagree with my mother and Charles just stopped caring for some reason. We used to be quite close and he’d sometimes stand up for me, but not anymore. I guess he’s too busy to care or notice, but that’s just a guess.”

“And if you were to speak up? Or just eat whatever they’re eating? What would happen then?”

“I have never tried it, but I’m pretty sure my mom would make me feel ashamed and get me to stop eating whatever I was eating. It’d probably work too, as much as I hate to admit it. Were I to speak up about it, I’d probably be punished for being rude.”

“And even then, no one would care?” He asked, just as I gave him a cookie, which he consumed with one bite.

“Nope. Or they would care, but wouldn’t say something, afraid of my mom. I honestly sometimes wonder how the relationship between my parents works, my dad seems to be terrified of my mom. If I were him, I’d leave her.”

“Unless he’s afraid to leave her too. You don’t know that.”

“No, I don’t. That sounds quite logical though. I know you don’t like talking about your family, but what do you remember about when your parents were still together?”

“Well, I think my mom and dad really loved each other. They always made sure we would have one happy thing every day, even if it was just a walk with the family. I used to hate it, doing something together every day, but now I wish I had enjoyed it more.”

“Do you miss your mom?”

“Sometimes. But for me the biggest reason to see her would be to ask her why she took Jellybean with her, but left me behind. That hurt so much back then, and still does today. I really want an answer for that, but I also don’t feel like I’m ready to see her again any time soon. She hurt me too much and I still need to get over it.”

“And your sister? Do you miss her?”

“I miss her more every day. We were really close, but also fought a lot. It’s weird though, it’s those fights that I miss most. I don’t know exactly why, maybe it’s because after we had a fight, we’d always make up. I think I miss the feeling of security, of being sure no matter what I’d do, that person would still stay by my side. Since I met you though, that feeling has gone away a bit. You give me a lot of the security I need.” He smiled at me. I had hopped on the counter and he was standing in between my legs now, hands resting next to my hips, our faces a little less than a foot apart.

“I’m glad to hear that. You make me feel better about a lot too, Juggy.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and started playing with the hair there a bit. He bit his bottom lip and slowly leaned closer. My heart rate picked up when his lips were only a few inches apart from mine. He whispered my name, which made my heart stutter. Then he took a deep breath, and when he breathed out, his breath blew over my face. I liked his smell and leaned a little closer, our lips almost touching. Then we suddenly heard a door open and Jughead jumped back. I quickly hopped down from the counter.

“Quick, go to my room. If they see you here now, I’m dead.”

“Where is it though?”

“Up the stairs, second door on the left. A pink bedroom. Hide there, I’ll come as soon as possible. Go!” He sprinted up the stairs, more quietly than I would’ve thought possible.

“Hey!” I called out.

“Hi, Betty! Have you started cooking yet? We’re starving.” No pleasantries, just straight to business. Typical for my mother.

“I was just about to. How was your trip?”

“It was fantastic! We bought so much cute things. I also bought you a pastel pink sweater, which I think you’ll like. It’s quite baggy, so you’ll always be able to wear it.” She meant that even when I was a little bit fat in her opinion, I could wear it. I ignored that comment, but thanked her for the sweater, which was actually quite nice. Then I realized with a shock that I was still wearing Jughead’s sweater. My mom would not like that. When she noticed, her face became disgusted.

“What’s that sweater you’re wearing, Elizabeth? It’s not yours, is it?”

“Let me explain. I had forgotten my own sweater when I went to Cheryl’s and today it was quite cold. So I borrowed Kevin’s. No big deal.”

“Oh, good. I was afraid for a second that you were wearing Jughead’s sweater. That would be unacceptable, by the way.” Gee, thanks mom.

“Actually mom, about cooking, I still have to unpack my bag, would it be okay if I’d do that now and cook tomorrow?”

“Fine, whatever. Just let your mom solve it again.” I ignored her, grabbed my bag and went upstairs. When I came into my room, I softly called out.

“Jughead? Juggy, it’s me, where are you?” He suddenly appeared behind me, covering my eyes with his hands. I had difficulty blocking the scream that was about to escape my mouth. Instead, I sucked in a deep breath.

“Why did you have to do that? You scared the crap out of me.” I whispered.

“I couldn’t not, it was too tempting.” He smirked at me and I punched him in the ribs. Then I walked to my closet and started unpacking my bag.

“Your mom had a great way of greeting you, I love it.” He said, sarcastically.

“Yeah, she’s never been the one for pleasantries. After a while, you get used to it though.”

“You shouldn’t have to. You know, listening to you and your mom talking, I almost feel lucky mine’s not around.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“I do, actually. I would honestly rather not have a mom than have a mom like yours. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I think I kinda feel the same, but because she’s my mother, I will never admit it.”

“You just kind of did though.” He said, teasing me.

“Shut up.” I said, giggling. He sat down on my bed, as I finished unpacking.

“I wish you could just stay here all day and night.” I admitted, shyly.

“Me too, to be honest. Your bed feels so much softer than my beds the past many years. Except those at Veronica’s and Cheryl’s.”

“Maybe you could just stay?” I suggested, carefully, afraid of being rejected but also not being able to stop myself.

“I want to, but I have to work tonight. In two hours actually.” I pouted. “I could maybe sneak in after work though?” He half asked, half suggested.

“How would you do that?” I wondered out loud.

“Well, your window seems big enough. Do you have a ladder I could use?”

“Right! Yes, I do. And it’s quite doable too, I’ve done it quite often, when I stayed over at Veronica’s and had to get my school stuff. Would you want that?”

“I’d love to. Would you?”

“There’s nothing that’d make me happier at this point.” We smiled at each other. Then I sat down next to him and rested my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

“Then I’ll come back here after work. Your mom doesn’t check on you at night, does she?”

“Rarely, if ever.”

“Good. Because that would probably mean trouble.”

“That would definitely mean trouble. Speaking of trouble, if we wanna stay out of it now, you should probably leave before anyone sees you.”

“Okay. How though? I don’t assume the ladder is already below the window?”

“Nope. I can put it there though. I’ll throw something away outside and put it there. Then you can climb through my window and go to work.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Then I’ll see you later tonight.”

“Yes, definitely.” We got up from my bed and hugged. Then I went downstairs to follow our plan. It went very smoothly and Jughead was gone before anyone had noticed he was even here in the first place. For dinner I had salad again, because ‘I’d probably eaten a lot at Cheryl’s’ according to my mother. Not completely untrue, but still.

“Betty, how was your weekend? Pretty boring without us, wasn’t it?” Charles asked me. He hadn’t even bothered to remember that I was away too this weekend.

“I actually had a sleepover at Cheryl’s with the whole group. It was fun.”

“Huh, guess I don’t remember. You must’ve told me before though.”

“Did you see Jason?” Polly asked, with a mean, small smile on her face.

“I know you did.” I replied, and then continued eating.

“Cheryl told you, didn’t she? Well, since you asked, it was great to have him with us. It’s a shame you haven’t found anyone to put up with you yet, though.” 

“You know, having a boyfriend or not doesn’t say anything about yourself. I mean, Charles doesn’t have a girlfriend either.”

“That you guys know of.” He said, mysteriously. “No, just kidding. I don’t indeed. Does that make me stupid?” He smirked.

“No, of course not.”

“Then why would it make Betty stupid? Because your tone reveals that that’s what you actually mean with your snide comments. And don’t deny it.”

“Well, because she’s Betty. Her not having a boyfriend just confirms everything.”

“Gee, thanks Polls. Love you too. Can I be excused please?” I asked, as I was already getting up.

“Don’t you wanna stay for desert? Oh, wait, never mind.” Charles said. I squeezed his shoulder when I walked passed him, a silent thank you. I cleaned my plate and cutlery and went upstairs to finish my homework. Around 9:00pm I was done and I opened my laptop to see what time the movie at the drive-in was playing, or more importantly, till when. It said that the movie was from 8:00pm-10:00pm. So at least an hour and a half till Jughead would be back. I decided to do some reading. I was currently reading Pride and Prejudice, I liked the old romances. Around 10:15pm I started to get ready for bed; I brushed my teeth and changed into my pyjamas. Then I went downstairs to kiss my parents goodnight and went to bed, waiting for Jughead to knock on my window. It was 10:30pm now and I expected him any moment. He didn’t show though, and when the clock showed me that it was already 10:45pm, I got worried he might’ve forgotten or that something might’ve gone wrong. I became restless, so I decided to go listen to some music. I turned it on really softly, so I could still hear the knock on my window. At 11:00pm, I’d given up hope of him showing up tonight, so I turned off my music and let the tears run free. Everyone else had already gone to bed as well, I was the only one still awake. I was almost asleep when I suddenly heard a soft knock on my window. My heart jumped and I was at the window in a few seconds, not knowing I was able to move so fast. I opened the window to let him in. He stepped through and then he was in my room. I had left my bedside lamp on, and we looked at each other in the dim light.

“Have you just cried? What happened?” He asked, worriedly.

“I– Well, you were late. It’s already 11:15. I checked and the movie ended at 10. What did you do?”

“You checked to see how late I’d be here?”

“Yes. Now, why are you late?”

“The movie ended at 10, just as planned. After that though, I have to put it away, clean up the parking lot and help close and clean the food stand. That usually takes us about half an hour, but this time the parking lot was one big mess, so it took us a little longer. I came as quick as I could though. I’m still sorry I kept you waiting so long, I should’ve texted you or something.”

“No, that’s okay. You couldn’t have known I would look up the movie times. I’m glad you’re here now though.” I wrapped my arms around him and he hugged me back. We stood there in each other’s embrace for a few minutes, before I got cold. He felt me shiver.

“Are you cold?” He asked, rubbing my arms.

“Only a little, as I already changed into my pyjamas.” He let me go, so I could climb under my blankets again. 

“How are we gonna do this though?” He asked, and I could hear the nervousness in his voice.

“Well, I was thinking you could just sleep in my bed with me. Don’t worry though, I’m not planning on nor expecting anything to happen tonight. I just want to cuddle.” I admitted, blushing. I was glad he didn’t see though. I heard him sigh in relief. Then he took off his shoes and Sherpa and laid down next to me. I instantly pressed myself against him, not wanting to waste another minute not touching him. I really wasn’t expecting anything to happen tonight though, it just wasn’t the time and place. Someday maybe, definitely not today. He wrapped his arms around me and I pressed my face against his chest.

“So, you wanna talk about something or just go to sleep?”

“I’m actually quite tired, would it be okay if we went to sleep?”

“Of course. Goodnight, Betts.” He said, and he pressed a kiss to my forehead. That made me smile.

“Goodnight, Juggy.” I said. A few moments later, I was asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may or may not have noticed that the part where Jughead talked about his history, isn't the same as what Alice said in chapter one. That is because Jughead lied about his identity and where he came from when he transferred to Riverdale High. He didn't want anyone judging him for his past.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The part we've all been waiting for :)  
Talking is between " and texting between '

When I woke up, Jughead was still asleep. He was snoring quietly, which was really cute. I couldn’t believe he’d stayed the night, in my bed. I felt really happy though, waking up next to him. Then I shot up, shocked. I looked at my clock for the time. Jughead was now awake and rubbing his eyes.

“What’s wrong, Betty?” He asked, voice still thick with sleep.

“Crap, it’s Monday. It’s Monday, 7:55am. We’re gonna be late for school.” I said, trying not to freak out. I looked at Jughead, which was very helpful with my calming down process. He wasn’t wearing his beanie yet, and his ink black hair was one big mess. He was still halfway asleep and looked really confused. He looked adorable and it made me very calm. 

“Wait, it’s Monday? Really?”

“Yeah, Cheryl’s sleepover was over the weekend. It ended yesterday, so that means today it’s Monday. We’re screwed.”

“Relax, Betty. We’ll still be on time, I promise. Now go get changed.” He ordered and then he moved the blanket over his head so he wouldn’t see me. I quickly changed into my new sweater, the one my mom got for me and long jeans. After I had put my hair in a ponytail, I told Jughead I was done. He got up and put on his shoes and jacket again. At last, he put his beanie on his head.

“I’ll see you around the street corner, on your way to school.” He said and then climbed out my window again. I hoped my neighbours wouldn’t see. Then I went downstairs and made us sandwiches. Polly, Charles and my dad had already left for school and work and my mom was probably working in the study. No one had bothered to wake me, which I was for once happy about. I went outside and ran around the street corner, where I saw Jughead sitting on a motorcycle.

“You’re kidding. There’s no way I’m getting on that death trap.”

“Then you’ll have to walk, in which case you’ll definitely be late. Come on, Betts, I promise you I’ll drive safely. Do you honestly think I could harm you?”

“No.”

“Well, then, hop on.” He said, while handing me a helmet. I accepted it and put it on my head, ruining my ponytail with the action. Then I sat down behind him.

“Hold on tight.” He said, jokingly, but I firmly wrapped my arms around his waist nevertheless.

“Oof, not that tight. Careful.” He joked and then he started driving. I pressed my face in his back so I couldn’t see how fast we were moving. Also, so no one could recognize me. If I were to be seen on the back of Jughead Jones’s motorcycle, my mom would for sure find out and kill us both. We did arrive at school in time though, just as he’d promised. I got off, feeling very stiff, which made him laugh.

“Shut up.” I grumbled.

“I didn’t say anything!” He defended himself. I took off my helmet and he started laughing again.

“What?”

“You should redo your hair, it’s a mess.”

“So is yours, though. Put on your damn beanie.” It came out harsher than I intended. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. It just makes me grumpy when I do something that scares me.”

“That’s okay. You’ll get used to it.” He winked.

“I hope I don’t ride your bike often enough for me to get used to it.” I said. I pulled the elastic out of my hair and put it in a new ponytail, just as he put on his beanie again.

“Do you ride your bike often?”

“Not as much as I’d like. Gas is expensive, you know.” Then the bell rang and we walked to History together. I really wanted to hold his hand, just as last night, but since we were at school, I couldn’t. Instead, I smiled at him. He smiled back. In class, I sat down next to Kevin and Jughead sat down in the back of the class, as usual. Kevin eyed me questioningly. I shook my head, to tell him nothing happened. Which was true, nothing happened, apart from talking and him spending the night in my bed… Holy shit, Jughead had spent the night in my bed, with me in it too. Damn. It’s like it only hit me then. I must’ve looked shocked, because Kevin asked:

“What happened? Something wrong?”

“Nope. I’m fine. I’m fine.” I said, but I heard the hidden excitement in my own voice.

“Tell me later.” Kevin said. I nodded. Next class had dropped out, so we had a free period. Kevin pulled me to our lunch table.

“Tell me everything, Cooper.” He ordered me.

“Well, we talked a lot and then had a sleepover. Nothing else though.” “Sleepover? With just the two of you? Where?”

“Yes and at my house.”

“Was your mom cool with that?”

“Uhm, she didn’t know.” I smirked.

“Damn, Betty Cooper turned bad girl! Nothing happened though? I’m just assuming he slept in your bed with you.”

“He did, but no, nothing happened, just cuddling. I haven’t slept so well in ages though, I felt really safe.”

“I can imagine. Damn, you and Jughead. Cheryl was right after all.”

“Wait, what? She told you what she suspected?”

“Yeah, of course. We even bet on it.”

“Wait, you bet with Cheryl on whether Jughead and I would get together? Really?”

“Sorry. I lost.”

“We’re not together though.”

“Not yet, you mean.”

“Maybe. I don’t know, we didn’t really have the talk yet, you know. We talked about the possibility a bit, but what came out of it was that we’re both confused about everything. How are you and Fangs by the way?” I asked him, eager to talk about something else than my possible future relationship with Jughead.

“Smooth, Cooper. I’ll bite though. Fangs and I have planned our first “hang-out”. We agreed we wouldn’t call it a date, as it puts so much more pressure on it. We’re gonna see a movie at the drive-in though, with some popcorn.”

“Did you know that Jughead works at the drive-in?”

“Now I do. Maybe I’ll see him there, we’re going Wednesday.”

“I think he’s working then, so you might see him.”

“You really are a little stalker, aren’t you?”

“No way. Well, kind of. Only with Jughead. Let’s leave it at that.”

“So, you guys talk a lot.”

“Yes.” He was hinting at something, but I didn’t know what.

“Just talk, or …?”

“Gee, Kev. So far, just talk. Although last night– You know what, pretend I didn’t say anything.”

“Too late for that now. Tell me, Betty. Please?” I sighed.

“We almost kissed. Then my family came home and he went to my room to hide.”

“And his sweater? What did your mom think about that?”

“You noticed?” He nodded. “Well, I told my mom it was yours, so she wouldn’t freak out. In her response, she oh-so-smoothly added that ‘if I would every wear his sweater, that that would be unacceptable’.”

“She really likes Jughead, doesn’t she?” He joked.

“More than me almost.” I played along.

“Why though?”

“Because he’s ‘lower-class’. Meaning, his parents aren’t as rich and shallow as mine. She doesn’t know anything about them though, there’s things Jughead told me that make me sure of that.”

“I get a feeling you’re not gonna tell me what those things are, are you?”

“Nope. They’re Jughead’s secrets, I’m not spilling that tea.”

“Understandable. You know, if I’m being honest, you and Jughead seem like a better match than Veronica and Jughead. Since they started dating, I had the feeling they would be better off as friends, which I was right about. You and Jughead though, damn that’s goals. Sorry for using that word, I know you hate it.”

“Well, thank you, I guess. I’m just afraid, I’m afraid that if we start dating, the chance of me losing him will only grow bigger.”

“Isn’t it worth the risk though? If you keep living in fear of ‘what if’s’, you’ll never actually live. So stop being afraid and start living your life, Betty. Before you lose this, what you and Jughead have. Your eyes light up when you talk about him, you know.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and just now they did too. From now on, I’ll be able to tell when you’re thinking about him, so be careful with your thoughts around me.” He said, joking again.

“Great. Oh, I almost forgot! We need to finish our history essay next week, so maybe you could come over somewhere this week to finish it? I’ve worked on it a bit more in the meantime, but it’s not done yet.”

“Of course. How about Thursday? I can also tell you about my “hang-out” then.”

“Sure, sounds good. I have cheerleading practice, but we’ll meet after.”

“Okay, cool.” Then we walked to our separate classes.

When it was lunchtime, I was last to arrive at our table. There were no empty seats, and I had no idea what to do now. I knew what I wanted, which was to sit on Jughead’s lap. I also knew what I should do, which was everything except what I wanted. Veronica was sitting next to Jughead, so I decided the next best thing would be to sit on her lap. So I did, but Veronica asked me to switch places; she was always uncomfortable with someone on her lap. So we' switched and I unpacked my sandwich. When I handed Jughead the ones I’d made for him, his fingers brushed mine intentionally. It made me blush a bit, but because Veronica was on my lap, no one saw it except Jughead. He smirked before continuing his conversation with Veronica. It was torture for me, sitting next to Jughead but not being able to touch him. I send him a text.

'Hey, can we meet after school? Just go for a walk or something?'

As he was still talking, he didn’t reply. Just before the bell rung though, he checked his phone and typed a message back.

'You read my mind, Betts. Let’s do it. I’ll meet you at the front exit.'

The message made me smile. Every time he called me ‘Betts’, my heart jumped and was filled with happiness. I couldn’t wait for school to be over, but I had two more classes. After that though, I was eager to go outside and take a walk with Jughead. When I saw him, I ran up to him and gave him a hug. At first, he was surprised, but then he hugged me back tightly.

“Hi. That’s a greeting I could get used to.” He whispered in my ear. Then we let each other go and walked towards the forest. Once we were inside of it and out of sight from the school and basically anyone, he grabbed my hand.

“You know, I was having a hard time not doing this during the lunchbreak.” He said.

“Me too, you have no idea. Maybe we should tell Veronica soon, so we can do this at school too.”

“What is ‘this’ exactly though?” He asked.

“I don’t really know, actually. Maybe just holding hands, as we are now?”

“Don’t you think there’s more going on between us?”

“Maybe. I’m afraid though.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, because I’m afraid of losing you. Relationships end more often than they last a lifetime. Friendships last a lifetime way more often. I just don’t want to lose you, I can’t.”

“I get that, and I agree. Giving yourself to anyone like you do in a relationship, gives the other a lot of power over you. I think it’s kinda scary to give you that much power over me. For me though, it’s worth the risk. I wouldn’t forgive myself if I hadn’t given ‘us’ a try. Even if we won’t last a lifetime, the time we do spend together would make up for that, don’t you think?”

“Kevin said something like that too. I–”

“You talked to Kevin about us?” He sounded a bit shocked and scared.

“Well, yeah. Kevin is my best friend and he knew something was up, so I thought I might as well tell him. It’s nice, you know, to have an outsider’s perspective.”

“What’d you tell him though?”

“Just that you spent the night, but nothing happened. And that we almost kissed. And that we talked a lot about stuff. I didn’t tell him any of your secrets though, don’t worry. I’m keeping those, I promised you.”

“Okay, good. To be honest I was a little worried about that. What exactly did you tell him about our almost-kiss?”

“I don’t know, just that we almost kissed. I didn’t elaborate on it though.”

“Good, now at least we have a private, personal moment.” He winked.

“Hey, I don’t tell Kevin everything!” I said, offended but in a joking way.

“No, not everything. Basically everything though.”

“Not true.”

“Whatever you want Betts.” Again, my heart did that jumping thing.

“You know, I miss working together with you. Next time we have to do an assignment, will you be my partner again?”

“I’d love that. I heard we’ll be getting another history assignment, this time about the Roman Empire. We could do that together?”

“Sounds good.” We smiled at each other. “You know, I really like that I can talk to you about everything and that you just understand. It’s not often like that for me.” I told him. “Most of the times, people just say I’m overreacting and that I shouldn’t try to get attention through serious things, such as self-harm.”

“Have those people ever seen or heard your mom talking to you? Or even just listened to you talking about what she says to you?”

“Some have, but they think I’m exaggerating.”

“Those people don’t deserve you talking to them. I like talking to you too, I feel like I actually matter for once.”

“Of course you matter, Juggy. You matter more to me than most people, you always will.” I squeezed his hand. Then he stopped walking and pulled me in for a hug.

“I never wanna lose you, Betty. I don’t think I’ll live after that. So please, don’t break my heart. I don’t want to give you so much power over me, but it’s not something I can control. It’s like you’ve just taken my heart away from me and it’s terrifying and comforting at the same time.”

“I’ll never hurt you, I promise.” He pulled away a bit and looked at me, his beautiful blue eyes boring into mine. He slowly leaned closer to me. Then, very unexpectedly, I got a panic attack. I hadn’t ever kissed someone before, I didn’t know how to do it. What if I did it wrong and it would scare him off? What if I wasn’t good at kissing and it was horrible? I wasn’t ready for this, I couldn’t disappoint him. I couldn’t let him realize how hopeless I was, how I’d never dated and how I would probably screw up. I couldn’t screw up with him, not after everything he’s been through. Not after I finally felt completely understood and appreciated. So in a panicky moment, I stepped back a few steps, tears already forming in my eyes. I felt horrible for pulling away and he didn’t understand what happened.

“I’m sorry, Jughead. I just can’t.” Then I really started crying, tears streaming down my face. I sunk to the ground, burying my head in my hands. He sat down next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

“Don’t cry, please. What happened? What can’t you do?” He rubbed my back and with his other hand, he grabbed mine.

“I just, I have never– never kissed anyone. I don’t– I don’t wanna screw u-up, I don’t. But I don’t know how– how I can’t screw up when– when I don’t know how to– how to do it. I’m scared, Jug.” I sobbed.

“Hey, Betty, it’s okay. Don’t worry. It’s okay, let it all out. The first time is always scary, you don’t know what to expect and you feel like there’s only one way to do it. The truth is though, there’s no right or wrong way to kiss someone. Everyone likes their kisses a different way. Kissing is one of those things you don’t think about, but you just feel. I know it sounds cliché, but it’s true. Just turn off your thoughts, and let your instincts guide you. They know what you have to do.” While talking, he kept rubbed my back. I started calming down.

“I just don’t wanna disappoint you and I’m afraid I will.”

“You could never disappoint me, only if you didn’t try. Trying is never wrong. When you try something new, it’s okay if it doesn’t go as planned. That’s why they invented the word ‘try’, because just doing something is rarely the way to go. You’re bound to screw up sometimes when you’re trying, but that’s only human. If you don’t try though, it’s a big waste. Trying is supposed to teach you new things, some of them are for you, some of them are not. Both options are okay, you were only trying after all. Trying will never be wrong, only not trying is wrong.”

“It all sounds so easy now.”

“Let me prove you it is as easy as it sounds.” He said and then he tilted my head with his finger. He looked into my eyes again, but before leaning closer, he started stroking my cheek. I slowly started to relax, due to his touch. I let out a deep breath and then he slowly moved closer.

“Don’t be afraid, just let your feelings guide you.” He whispered. Before pressing his lips against mine, he cupped my face with both his hands. Then, very softly, his lips pressed against mine. At first, I froze. A few seconds later though, my thoughts were suddenly gone and my feelings started guiding me through my first kiss. My lips started moving together with his and my hands moved themselves into his hair, knocking off his beanie. The feeling of his lips against mine was the best feeling in the world. They were so soft and gentle and my whole body felt warm. I didn’t want the kiss to end, so I pulled him closer to me. He let out a soft moan, which made my stomach somersault. Then he pulled away, but rested his forehead against mine.

“That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”

“No.” I replied, out of breath. That was amazing. “Thank you, Juggy, for being patient with me and not giving up.”

“I’d never give up on you, don’t you forget that.” I hugged him tightly. Then we got up, he helped me. He didn’t let go of my hand though and we started walking back.

“I’d better walk you home– Oh, wait. I’d better drive you home, before your mom gets suspicious.”

“There’s no way I’ll get on your bike again, forget it.”

“Why not?” He asked innocently.

“Because I don’t wanna die. Especially not now, now that I experienced how nice being alive can be.”

“But you won’t die. I’ll keep you safe, I promise.”

“You can’t help it though, when a car hits you.”

“But when we’re in a car, you’d get hurt too if another car would hit us. There’s not that big of a difference.”

“Not true, when on a motorcycle, your injuries will be worse. Less protection, you know.”

“Okay, you have a point. Still, I’ll drive really safely. Plus, you’ll get to hold on to me without anyone judging.” He winked at me.

“I don’t know, it’s still dangerous.”

“Not with me, I promise. Please, Betty?” He begged, with puppy-eyes. I couldn’t resist.

“Fine, but if we die, I’m holding you responsible.”

“That’s technically impossible, but sure.” He let go of my hand, but only to put his arm around my shoulders. We walked in silence the rest of the way. When we got to his bike, he turned to me.

“May I?” He asked, but I had no idea what he meant. I just nodded. He reached behind me to pull the elastic out of my hair. He was being really careful and it felt quite nice. Then he handed me my elastic and put the helmet on my head. When he was done, I quickly pulled off his beanie, putting it in my backpack, so he couldn’t just leave, as I had his beanie. He smiled and put on his own helmet. I only now realized it had a small crown on it, in the shape of his beanie. His bike had the same symbol on it on several places. He got on his bike and mentioned for me to do the same. I hesitantly got on and instantly wrapped my arms tightly around his waist, just as this morning. I decided not to focus on anything other than me holding him. He revved the engine and then he took off. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut. It was less scary than this morning, but still terrifying. When we stopped, we were in front of my house. He carefully released himself from my grip and I got off his bike. I put of my helmet and as I wanted to give it back to him, I was surprised to see him getting off too.

“What’re you doing?” I asked, confused.

“Well, I figured, as I just kissed you, we maybe should tell you mom about us before she finds out through someone else.”

“Do you have a death wish or something? When my mom hears about us, she’ll kill us without a second thought. We’re not gonna tell her.”

“Isn’t your mom the kind of person to always know everything though?”

“Yes, but still, she can’t know.”

“Betty, I wanna do this the right way. Which includes your family. They should know. What’s the worst they can do?”

“You don’t wanna know what they’re capable of.”

“Worst case scenario, I’ll rescue you from wherever you are and we’ll run off together.”

“That wouldn’t be so bad though. Worst case scenario, we both end up dead.”

“Let’s just show your mom she can’t control everything you do. Please, Betty. I really wanna do this.”

“She can’t say you’re not committed. If you’re really sure about this, then fine. I’ll go along with it.”

“Thank you. Now, can I have my beanie back?”

“Ask nicely.” I winked at him.

“Please, Betty?” I shook my head. “Dearest, sweetest and loveliest Betty, can I please have my beanie back?” I giggled, but shook my head again. Then he started tickling me, which made me giggle hysterically. 

“Fine, fine, fine, you can have it. Now please stop, Juggy.” I begged him, laughing. He laughed too, but let me go. I reached in my bag and handed him his beanie. I put my own hair in a ponytail and grabbed his hand before walking inside. I was terrified about how my mom would react and I wished I didn’t have to do this right now. Jughead was right though, if we wouldn’t tell my mom now, she’d find out through someone else. That would be even worse. We were doing the right thing, but I was really scared.

“It’ll be fine.” Jughead reassured me.

“I hope.” I whispered, before opening the door and walking inside. My mom was already in the kitchen, waiting for me to come home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you think Alice will react? Will she accept it or will she be mad?


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Jughead is very mad at Alice, but doesn't want that to show. He still has a lot of things to say though. It might be a little random, but this is his way of expressing his feelings and thoughts.

“Well, well, what do we have here? You two seemed quite close just now.” My mom said, disapproval obvious in her voice. 

“Have you been watching, mom?” I was surprised that she had.

“Well, of course. I was waiting for my youngest daughter to come home, as you hadn’t told me you coming home later today. I already had a feeling you were hanging out with him.” She said ‘him’ as if it was something gross.

“Well, you got that correct. I–” Jughead interrupted me.

“Mrs. Cooper, I don’t think I ever properly introduced myself to you. I know you know who I am and what you think of me, but I’m here to prove you wrong. My name is Jughead Jones, son of FP and Gladys Jones. I believe you knew my dad. I also wanted to inform you that the amount of money a person has, doesn’t necessarily say anything about a person’s personality. I was raised to have good manners, but growing up, we didn’t have much money. I also learnt that money doesn’t matter, as long as you love the people around you. I’ve had quite a rough youth, but your daughter has helped me talk about it. Talking about it all made me feel better, your daughter makes me feel better. I just wanted to let you know that no matter what will happen between your daughter and me, I’ll always want the best for her and I would never do anything to hurt her. It’s time more people see what an amazing human being she is. She doesn’t know it yet herself, but she should.”

“You think you’re really something, don’t you? Just coming here, teaching me about MY daughter?”

“Mom, would you just listen to what he’s saying?” I asked, annoyed.

“I was hoping I could maybe have a fresh start with you? That we can form opinions based on other things than money? I would very much appreciate it, as I really like Betty.”

“A fresh start? Just erase everything that happened before? I’m not sure I can, Jughead.”

“What do you mean, ‘erase everything that happened before’? You haven’t met Jughead before, have you?”

“No, not Jughead. Like he said, I knew his dad. Knew him very well, to be honest. Now is not the time and place to talk about it though, I’ll tell you sometime, Betty. But forgetting what his father did to me, impossible.”

“Fine, I believe that. But Jughead is not FP. Jughead is, I think, very different from FP. Please, mom, give him a chance.”

“Why does this matter so much to you, Elizabeth?” Jughead eyed me, questioningly.

“Elizabeth?” He whispered. I ignored him.

“Because Jughead matters to me mom, I want him to be a part of my life. But for some reason I feel like I need your approval.”

“Well, I’ll try being a bit open-minded. But know, Jughead, that you have to work hard to earn my respect.”

“I will, Mrs. Cooper.”

“Now, Betty, if you would be so nice, let Jughead out please. I want to have dinner.” I nodded and walked outside with Jughead.

“Elizabeth?” He asked, again.

“You really wanna talk about that?”

“I never knew your full name wasn’t Betty.”

“No one calls me Elizabeth, except for my family. But my mom holds a grudge against you for something your dad did? Do you know anything about this?”

“No, my dad never talked about his past, so I don’t know much about it. The fact that he didn’t talk about it much did make me suspect that he did some things he wasn’t proud of, but what exactly, I don’t know. I want to know now though. When your mom tells you, you’ll tell me, right?”

“For sure, unless she specifically makes me promise not to tell you.”

“Understandable. Now I think you need to go inside, I’m sure your mom’s waiting for you.” My stomach suddenly turned.

“What if she now starts being mean? What do I do?” I was suddenly really nervous.

“Do you think she might?”

“Well, she was way too calm just now, so I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“If you want, I could wait five minutes outside, so that when she’s mean to you, you can just come running outside. After five minutes I’ll leave, so I’m not waiting forever.”

“Would you wanna do that?”

“Would I offer if I didn’t?”

“No.”

“Well, then?”

“I’d love that, Juggy. Please.”

“Ask nicely.” He said, and winked. Instead of asking again, I gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.

“Please?” I whispered in his ear.

“Of course. I’ll wait for five minutes, then I’m gone. But you can always call me though, when something’s wrong.”

“I know. Where are you gonna spend the night?”

“Probably just in the drive-in.”

“You can get in there today? It’s closed, right?”

“Yes, but I have a key.”

“If you want, you could spend the night here again.” I offered.

“I’d love to, but I don’t think it’s such a smart idea. Your mom now knows about us, I feel like she might check on you tonight. Most of the times we hang out is a bit of a secret, so she might expect you to sneak out.”

“Good point. Another night though, right?”

“For sure. Goodnight now, Betts.”

“Goodnight, Juggy.” We quickly hugged and then I ran inside. I was a bit scared, but hoped for the better. When I came inside, I sat down at the table.

“What was that Jughead doing here?” Polly asked.

“Basically asking permission to hang out with me, I guess.”

“He really tried, didn’t he?” My mom said.

“Yeah, we’re both quite serious about this.”

“That was clear. I have to say though, Betty, I was keeping a lot to myself just now, I didn’t want him to report to the police or anything. I have–” I interrupted her.

“Report to the police? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Well, I don’t know what he’d do if I’d said what I’m about to say when he was here, I neither know nor trust him, Betty. And you shouldn’t either. The Jones’s aren’t worthy of your trust.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because his father broke my trust and stuff like that, runs in that family. But now please let me continue. I have to say though, and I said this before, I don’t want you hanging around with a Jones. They’re poor, bad mannered, usually they steal or hang around in gangs. They’re bad people, Betty. I know a lot about FP Jones, a lot that could put him in jail. Jughead probably knows or knew too, which kind of makes him guilty for not reporting on it. The fact that he doesn’t talk about it means that he’s covering for his dad. You think you know him, but really, you don’t.”

“YOU think you know him, but really don’t!” I yelled. She was getting on my nerves and I felt my nails digging into my palms. I didn’t care enough to stop it though. “What even happened with his dad and you?” My mom got up and pulled me with her into the study.

“No one else can know about this, not even your brother and sister. Promise?”

“Fine. Now will you tell me?”

“Well, FP and I went to the same high school. We were high school sweethearts. I trusted him with everything I had. But then one day I felt sick every morning and I was always hungry. When I told my mom, she bought me a pregnancy test. I tested myself and it said positive. I was 17 at the time. When I told FP, feeling very nervous about it, he just laughed and dumped me the next day. I tried many times to talk to him about it, but he would walk away the second I mentioned anything that had something to do with the baby. He broke my trust and never fixed that, or even apologized. I thought I could trust him, Betty, but that was the biggest mistake in my entire life.”

“What happened to the baby?”

“I had him, he was a beautiful baby. When I gave birth to him though, I was dating your dad. He forced me to put him up for adoption, he didn’t want to raise one of FP’s babies, he said. It broke my heart, Betty. Even though I didn’t want a child at the time, I loved my baby. He was my baby boy. All the men in my life so far have broken my heart. I won’t have you making the same mistakes I have. I can’t watch you reliving my life and not doing anything about it, it hurts me.” It shocked me, knowing I had a brother. I wasn’t going to show her that shock though.

“Jughead’s not like that though. He doesn’t even live with his dad anymore.”

“His parents split?”

“Not exactly, but he doesn’t live with his father. He’s very different from his dad, from all I’ve heard from him. He doesn’t at all want to be like his dad.”

“I just don’t trust him, Betty. Didn’t you listen to me at all? Badness runs in that family, it’s not something he can control! He was born to be bad, he can’t help it! Would you please listen to me, Betty! His dad runs a gang! He deals drugs! He’s a bad man! Jughead is likely to follow in his footsteps and I don’t blame him. FP is the only example he had, what else is he supposed to do? Sons always follow their father’s paths!”

“I don’t believe it! Jughead is not like that and he never will be!”

“You’re not listening to what I’m saying, Betty! Jughead’s not yet a bad person, but he will be! The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! That expression was invented for a reason, it’s almost always true!”

“Almost always! Jughead won’t follow in his dad’s footsteps, I’d even bet on it!”

“Elizabeth, you’re not listening to reason. So I’ll just tell you what’s gonna happen. You won’t hang out with Jughead anymore, he is a bad influence. He doesn’t care about how you look, that’s why he’s been giving you sandwiches and burgers. He wants you to be in trouble at home. It was his idea to tell me, wasn’t it? He only wants trouble for you Betty, please see that.”

“How did you–? You know what, it doesn’t matter. But you’re–”

“I wasn’t finished! You won’t be hanging out with Jughead anymore AND I’m taking your phone, so you won’t be able to text or call him. End of discussion.” She reached her hand out for me to put my phone into.

“You’re not getting my phone. No way.”

“Give me your phone now, or else I’ll also take your laptop and start driving you everywhere.”

“No, you’re not getting my phone. Or any of the other things you just said.”

“I’m getting your phone and you’re grounded for a week. Every minute I’m waiting for you to give me your phone, another week is added.” I didn’t move.

“Two weeks. I’d hurry, Betty. I’m not giving up and this grounding is definitely happening.” I sighed, but didn’t move.

“Three weeks. You’re screwing up your own life, Elizabeth. If you don’t give me your phone now, I’m driving you everywhere for the time you’re grounded. Which also means I get to decide where you’re going and where not.”

“I hate you!” I shouted, as I pushed my phone in her hand. Then I stormed out and went to my room. When I got there, I threw myself on my bed and started crying. All I wanted was to call Jughead, but I couldn’t. The five minutes had also passed, so he wouldn’t still be outside. Or I could’ve gone to Veronica’s, but I couldn’t do that anymore either. I felt more miserable than I had in a long time. Every time the day was going great, my mom ruined it when I got home. Then I got up and started searching. I knew I shouldn’t and I already hated myself and regretted doing it, but I also couldn’t stop myself. It was all too much and I couldn’t call anyone to help me out of this. I couldn’t find a knife or anything else sharp, so I went with a paper. It was, unfortunately, more effective that I would’ve thought. I had just this morning removed the bandage for my last cut, but now I might need a new one. While I was cutting myself, I suddenly broke down crying again and the paper fell to the ground, for the better probably. I didn’t want to bleed onto my covers though, so I went to the bathroom. When I put my arm under the cold water, I noticed the half-moon shaped cuts on my palms. I’d forgotten that happened too, but luckily it hadn’t bled much. I cleaned everything and decided not to use a bandage, better left to open air. I went back to my room and changed into my pyjamas. I felt really guilty for not calling or texting Jughead, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I cried myself to sleep and had a nightmare, my mom had reported FP to the police and Jughead was put into juvie for keeping his dad’s secrets.

When I woke up, my throat was sore from all the crying. How was I gonna survive three weeks without Jughead, Veronica and my phone? I seriously started believing all my mother wanted was to ruin my life. I was positive that she would ask Polly and Charles to keep an eye on me at school, so I couldn’t hang out with Jughead there. I’d have to find a way to explain it to him, but that would be hard. Both the ‘finding a way to’ and ‘explaining’ part. I had to do it though, and I had to do it today. I got changed into a pink sweater and jeans, put my hair in a ponytail and went downstairs. My mom had put a bowl with yoghurt on the counter with a note against it:

Don’t forget, no Jughead, no phone and no hang-outs. For three weeks. Have a nice meal, honey and have a nice day at school. X

How nice. I ripped it in ten pieces and threw it away. Then I ate my yoghurt and went to school, not seeing anyone from my family that morning. They were in the living room, which I avoided. As I was walking, I suddenly heard someone calling my name. For a second I thought it was Jughead, but then I recognised my brother’s voice.

“Betty! Wait up! You can’t go alone, says mom. Sorry.” He said, apologetically. I let out a sigh.

“Gee, she really trusts me, does she?” Charles rolled his eyes. “Where is Polly anyway?”

“She wasn’t ready yet. She’ll come alone, probably.” I knew he was lying, but Charles only lied when there was a reason, so I didn’t ask him about it. “What’s mom so pissed about anyway? Just that you and that beanie-boy are close?”

“Basically. And that I’m rebelling against her, she doesn’t like that. I’m starting to have my own opinion.”

“Well, Betty, you know mom. Own opinions are supposed to be kept to yourself, she’s the boss and knows everything best.”

“How do you deal with it though? I honestly don’t know anymore, nothing seems to work.”

“Well, she rarely says stuff to me. I guess you’re just unlucky.”

“But why though? What do I do that you guys don’t?”

“The question should be asked in reverse; what don’t you do that Polly and I do?”

“Listen to her?”

“Got it in one try, good job.”

“So I’m supposed to just do everything she says? And not say anything about it?”

“If you want her to stop talking trash about you, yes. But I don’t think that’s in your blood, so again, you’re just unlucky I guess.”

“Nice, good advice, bro. Hey, can you help me with something?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“I have to explain everything to Jughead, he deserves that. But I’m guessing mom asked you and Polly to keep an eye on me at school?”

“Sadly, yes. As if I have nothing better to do. But what do you want exactly?”

“I want you to make sure Polly doesn’t see us after first period. We’ll be heading in the old Blue & Gold office. Could you do that? Just this once, so I can explain.”

“Sure, sis. You got it. But just this once.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” We had arrived at school then and we both went our separate ways. I tried to avoid all my friends, in fear of Polly seeing me with them, including Jughead. I managed to make it to my class without running into anyone. I dropped my bag next to Kevin and walked to the back of the class, to where Jughead sat.

“Hey, can I talk to you after this class?”

“Sure, what’s wrong?”

“After class.” He nodded and I walked back to my chair. The time seemed to be passing slower than usual and it was getting on my nerves. I didn’t want to tell Jughead about what happened, it’d make everything so much more real. I was grounded for three weeks, without my phone, which meant I couldn’t keep in touch with anyone. One week, okay, but three weeks? How could my mom do this to me? When the bell rang, I quickly walked out of the classroom, scanning the halls for any sight of my sister. I sensed Jughead standing behind me and when I saw the coast was clear, I grabbed him and quickly pulled him into the old Blue & Gold office.

“I remember last time we were here, we were talking about maybe reopening this. Never did it though.” He said.

“We still should, in my opinion. It’d be awesome.” He nodded.

“So, what did you wanna talk about?”

“I was right about my mom maybe freaking out after you left. She literally grounded me for three weeks and took my phone. On top of that, she forbid me to hang out with you, ever again if she has her way. It basically means we can’t talk to or see each other for the next three weeks. Also, at school my siblings have to watch me so I don’t talk to you. Yes, I know, it’s bad and it sucks and everything, but yeah. That means that in the breaks, I’ll be sitting alone. I won’t have my mom driving you away from our friends because we’re not allowed to sit at the same table. I don’t want you to object, this is how it’s gonna happen. This is how I want it to happen. After three weeks, we’ll hang out again, I promise.” I saw the hurt in his eyes just before he pulled me in for a hug. He held me tight and I hugged him back.

“Are you okay, Betts?” He whispered.

“No, but I will be. Right now all I wanna do it cry, but I’m tired of crying.”

“Let it out anyway.” He said, and that’s all I needed to let the waterworks go again. His shirt was quite quickly drenched from my tears, but I didn’t think he’d mind. If I would mention it, he’d probably say something like ‘don’t worry about it’. I didn’t want to let go of him, knowing it’d be the last time I’d get to touch him for three weeks, or even talk to him or see him other than in class. That thought made me cry even more and he started rubbing soothing circles on my back.

“Don’t leave me.” I said, my voice breaking twice.

“I won’t, I promise.” He said and tightened his hold on me even more. After what felt like forever, but what was still too soon, I stepped away from him. I looked into his blue eyes and saw a lot of worry.

“I’ll be okay, one day.” I said, reassuringly.

“Promise me one thing, will you?”

“I’ll try.” 

“Please, please don’t hurt yourself. I know it’s probably hard, but now I can’t tell you to call me when you feel bad. Please, please take good care of yourself.” I didn’t want to lie to him, but I also knew I couldn’t say yes to it. So I gave him the best I could.

“I’ll try. But no promises.” I could see in his eyes that he knew what it meant, that I would probably hurt myself, but he also knew it was something I couldn’t always control, so he let it go again.

“Jughead?”

“Yes?”

“Can you kiss me again? Like a three week goodbye kiss?” I felt really stupid saying this, but it was all I wanted at that point. He smiled and cupped my face in both his hands. I closed my eyes and waited for him to make the move. I first felt his lips on the tip of my nose, and the kiss made me sigh. I felt him smile against my skin, and then he slowly moved his lips down. They ghosted over mine and before really kissing me, he whispered:

“Yes ma’am.” As a response to my question. Then he pressed his lips against mine in a real kiss. My fingers went, unconsciously, into his hair, almost knocking his beanie off. I pulled him tighter against me and felt one of his hands sliding down to the small of my back, to pull me closer to him. This kiss was all I needed to keep going throughout the coming three weeks, I now knew I’d survive. I’d have to, I needed more of these kisses. His lips against mine made me feel stronger and I felt like maybe I could actually live through the coming three weeks, without feeling miserable every day. I’d live. It’d be hard, but I’d live. When he pulled away again, it was reluctant. He leaned his forehead against mine before stepping away.

“Thank you, that was fantastic.” I whispered, feeling awkward but not being able to stop myself. He smiled. Then he stepped away.

“I guess I’ll see you again in three weeks, huh?” He asked, sadly.

“Unfortunately, yes. I’ll be waiting for you though.”

“Me too.” He said. Then I turned around and walked away.

“Can you wait here for about two minutes? Just in case my siblings see us.” He nodded and then I walked away, going to Weatherbee’s office, to be excused from my current class, which was halfway through already. Because of my otherwise perfect attendance, he didn’t punish me. He did give me a warning though, but that was fine. I went outside to lay down on a picnic table, so soak up some sun. When the bell rang, I went to my next class. During the breaks, I’d sit alone somewhere, hoping Jughead would explain why. In the lunchbreak though, Veronica came to me.

“Hey girl. Jughead told us you’re grounded, that totally sucks. Why though? Jughead wouldn’t tell, he said it was your story to tell.”

“Had a huge fight with mom.” As I opened my mouth to say why, it struck me. Veronica didn’t know about Jughead and me, and with a reason. How do you tell your best friend you’ve been hanging out with and kissing her ex-boyfriend? Right, you couldn’t.

“B? What’s going on?”

“I can’t tell you, you’ll be mad. I would be mad if I were you.”

“If you’re talking about you and Jughead, I don’t mind and I won’t be mad. Jughead and I are over and just friends now.”

“How– How do you know?”

“The heart-eyes are hard to miss, Betty. Your face lights up when you see him. But again, I really don’t mind. I know it usually is kinda weird when your best friend and ex-boyfriend are getting together, but I really don’t feel like that at all. It’s fine, I’m happy for you. I really, truly am.” She smiled at me, a genuine smile, so I knew she wasn’t lying.

“Thank you, V. It’s a big relieve that you just said that. But yeah, my mom and I had a fight about Jughead. Or more like, the fact that he and I hang out.”

“Is that all it is, hang out?” I gave her a look. “I’m serious B! I wanna know everything.” I laughed.

“Fine, I’ll spill the tea. We hug a lot.” I looked at her with a straight face. She looked confused, but then broke out laughing. I joined.

“Come on, B, tell me. I deserve to know.”

“Fine. We’ve maybe, uhm, I don’t know, maybe like, kissed?”

“Oh my god! And, how was it? It was your first kiss, right?”

“How was it? Don’t you know already?” I said, teasingly.

“Well, yeah, but I mean like, what do you think about kissing? Now you know what it’s like.”

“Well, kissing Jughead is great.” I started giggling, feeling a bit awkward talking about it.

“I’ll tell you, he’s not a bad kisser. You may have zero experience, but I don’t and I’m telling you he’s a good kisser.”

“Right, okay, good to know I guess.” I said, and started laughing.

“Wait! Did you use tongue yet?”

“What? No, we haven’t. Isn’t that also like, kinda gross?”

“The thought of it, yes. But actually doing it, no.”

“I guess maybe I’ll know soon. Right now I’ll have to get through three weeks without even getting to touch him, let alone kiss him. Did I ever say I hate my mom?”

“No, actually. I always thought you did though.”

“Ahw, I tried so hard to hide it.” I joked, and we laughed again.

“Are you also not allowed to have anyone over? Or can I come over for a sleepover this weekend?”

“I’ll ask my mom and let you know tomorrow.”

“Why tomorrow? Why don’t you just text… Never mind.” I sighed. Then the bell rang and we went to our separate classes.

The next three weeks were hell. At school, I sat alone every break. Sometimes Kevin or Veronica would come to talk for a while, but most of the times I was sitting alone. Jughead and I had eye-contact very often, I could see in his eyes he was having a hard time. It hurt me that I couldn’t talk to him about it. 

Being at home though was worst of all. My mom kept berating me about everything I did or said and no one stood up for me. I tried a few times to stand up for myself, but she would instantly threaten to add another week to me being grounded. For me, there was nothing left to do but just let her say what she wanted. No one was allowed to come over either, so my sleepover with Veronica couldn’t happen. 

I tried my best to hurt myself as little as possible, trying my best to keep the sort of promise I’d made Jughead, but still I couldn’t stop myself about twice a week. After doing it, I felt really guilty and weak, but I was glad I hadn’t promised Jughead anything. I did dig my nails into my palms daily, when my mom was unleashing her fury on me. Jughead didn’t know about that though, so I didn’t even break my sort of promise. 

I was bored very often, since I didn’t have anything to do. My homework was always finished and I was left with myself and my family. I got a little closer with Charles though, which was nice. Polly was away a lot, I guessed at Jason’s. Every time she left, I felt like she was just doing it to annoy me, to emphasize the fact that she did have a ‘good’ boyfriend and I didn’t. I didn’t have a boyfriend at all though, but that was beside the point. My dad barely talked, as always. 

I couldn’t wait for the weeks to be over, but as always when you’re waiting for something, time seems to pass slower. To kill the time, I started writing. I wrote articles about anything and everything, mostly about mental health and self-harm. I knew I wasn’t the only one struggling with myself, and when Jughead and I would reopen the Blue & Gold, I’d already have some articles for it. I quite enjoyed writing those articles, I felt like I could be me and write what I wanted without anyone judging me. I really wanted to let Jughead read my articles, but of course I couldn’t. 

I also found out that I didn’t just miss Jughead, I missed Veronica, Kevin, Cheryl and Toni too. Archie wasn’t sitting with us as much as before, so I was used to not talking to him as often as before. But the casual conversations with my other friends, I did miss very much. I was quite happy to realize that, I didn’t want to become that girl that forgets all about her friends when she gets a boyfriend. I didn’t think I’d be like that, and this kind of confirms that. I would have to plan to hang out with them too when I was free again. My mom would also appreciate that. Maybe we could also do a sleepover with the entire group again. 

Veronica had told me in a recent lunchbreak that she was getting along quite well with one of the new students, from the Southside. His name was Reggie and he was quite handsome. They were taking things slow though and first developing a steady friendship. She told me that she was starting to really like him, but she was also into the ‘taking things slow’. 

Kevin was getting quite close with Fangs and they were absolutely adorable. I saw Fangs sitting at our table almost every lunchbreak now and I also saw how happy Kevin was around him, which made me happy. I hoped for Veronica that Reggie would like her back too, than we’d all be dating someone. Although Jughead and I weren’t officially dating yet. Neither were Kevin and Fangs and Reggie and Veronica, but it would be nice if we’d all work out together and we’d all be dating someone. I liked that thought, and that Sunday night, I fell asleep with a smile on my face for once. Not just because of that thought, but also because of the thought that tomorrow I’d be a free woman again. I’d survived my three weeks of being grounded, finally I could start living again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think it'd be interesting to write a long piece on Betty being grounded, so I thought to skip over the three weeks would be the best way to go. My story is already quite long and I don't want it to become boring. Sorry if you thought it would've been interesting.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! It's been a long time since I last posted a chapter, I'm sorry for that. School has started again and takes up a lot of my time.  
Charles has turned a one-eighty :)  
And Betty's not grounded anymore :)

When I woke up, I felt cheery. I got dressed, long sleeved shirt as always, put my hair in a ponytail and went downstairs.

“Good morning, Betty. You seem happy for once.” My mom greeted me.

“I’m not grounded anymore, so I have a reason to be.”

“Yes, about that. You’re not grounded anymore, that’s true, but the other of our agreements still are to be kept. You’ll get your phone back, but I still don’t want you hanging out with Jughead.”

“Not even just at school in our group?”

“That’s all you can have. Not alone with him though, and not after school.”

“Thanks mom. Now can I have my phone back?” I held out my hand. She walked away and came back with my phone. I had hundreds of missed messages, but nothing was very important so I didn’t read it. Then I grabbed my cracker and started eating it.

“By the way, Betty, you should really stop wearing long sleeved things. It’s still warm outside, you should start dressing like it is.”

“But I like my long sleeved shirts, they make me feel comfortable.”

“What’s more important though, looking good or feeling good?” I knew she wanted me to say looking good, but I really didn’t agree. I didn’t want to start a fight though.

“To look good. I’ll think about it, mom.” She nodded approvingly and walked into the living room, to have breakfast with the rest of my family. I rarely ever ate with them anymore, only dinner. Weirdly though, I liked not seeing them or talking to them in the morning. I loved my family, but it gave me a lot of peace not seeing them in the morning. When I’d eaten my cracker, I went upstairs to get my bag. Just as I was about to head downstairs, the bell rang.

“I’ll get it!” I shouted. When I opened the door, I was glad I had. Standing on my doorstep was Jughead.

“Hey, good morning. You’re not grounded anymore right?”

“Shh, don’t speak. I’ll explain later.” My mom couldn’t hear his voice. I turned around and shouted:

“Bye! I’m off to school with Kevin! He came to pick me up since I’m finally not grounded anymore!” Then I walked outside and closed the door, pulling Jughead with me as I walked away from my house as quick as I could.

“What’s going on? You still can’t hang out with me?”

“Sadly, no. But we are allowed to hang out at school in our group, so it’s a small improvement.”

“Nice, I think. Well, at least you’ll get to sit with us again though.”

“True. Really nice of you, by the way, walking me to school.” I said, as I grabbed his hand. He squeezed mine.

“No problem. I couldn’t wait to see you again, so I thought I’d just come to you.”

“I’m glad you did.” I smiled at him.

“Me too.” He said, squeezing my hand again. “So, how are you?”

“I’m surviving, I think. It were the most boring and slow passing three weeks of my life though, I’m glad they’re over.”

“And about your sort of promise to me?”

“I did my best.”

“Meaning?” He usually wasn’t much of a pusher, so it surprised me that he was now.

“Like, once or twice a week or something. Nothing too serious though. Hopefully now that I’ll get to call you again, it’ll get better.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through these weeks alone. I wish I could’ve been there for you.”

“This is not your fault, so please don’t apologize, it only makes me feel bad. How are you?”

“Changing the subject, aren’t we Cooper? Fine, I’ll bite. I’m okay, I think. I went to see my dad the other day. He hadn’t changed one bit since the last time I saw him, still drunk as ever. His trailer also gets more and more dirty every week. To be honest, I’m afraid he might die soon, due to lack of hygiene. Or due to drinking too much. Or a combination. Although I hate him, he’s still my dad and I don’t wanna lose him. That sounds weird.”

“No, it doesn’t. I know exactly what you mean. And I’m sorry, Jug. You don’t deserve to have a family like yours.”

“Thank you, Betty. I don’t agree though, I’ve done some bad things in the past. But I like to believe I’ve changed.”

“About the past, do you remember that my mom mentioned something about knowing your dad? She told me what it was.”

“And? Are you gonna tell me what you know?”

“Well, she made me promise not to tell anyone. But I don’t care, you should know it too.”

“You’re scaring me now.” He said jokingly, but I heard the truth in his voice.

“Well, my mom said she and your dad were in a relationship when they were teenagers. Uhm, she also gave birth to his child… When your dad found out, he dumped my mom and my dad wouldn’t allow my mom to raise your dad’s baby, so he was put up for adoption. Also, she–”

“Wait, we share a sibling? My dad and your mom had a child? For real?”

“Shit, I didn’t think of it like that. It doesn’t make us related though, does it?”

“No, technically not. It’s still a bit weird though. But there was more you wanted to say, so go on.”

“My mom also said that your dad runs a gang and deals drugs… And she’s afraid you’ll follow in his footsteps or that history will repeat itself, that’s why she so against us dat– hanging out.” I hoped he hadn’t heard my slight slip.

“What do you think of all this?”

“Well, I understand why she’s afraid. I don’t think you’ll follow in your dad’s footsteps though, so I don’t share her fear. I do want to know one thing, please promise me you’ll be honest.”

“Sure.”

“Did you know about your dad dealing drugs or leading a gang?” He sighed and I was afraid I didn’t want to hear the answer.

“I promised to be honest with you. I know about everything. I just didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to think something of me because of that. I’m not my dad.”

“I know you’re not him. But Jughead, dealing drugs is a crime, a serious one. You are basically also guilty for not reporting your dad. Why?”

“Because he’s my dad! Your mom is too, though, don’t forget that.”

“But even though he’s your dad, he’s doing bad things! He’s hurt you over and over again, but still you stand up for him! Why? What does he have on you?”

“If your dad would deal drugs, would you report him?” He challenged.

“Well, yeah, of course! It’s a real crime!”

“You haven’t reported my dad yet though, so how true is that?” He said, knowing he was right and I didn’t know how to respond.

“What does he have on you though?”

“You know I’m right Cooper, you don’t get to blame this on me.” He was obviously avoiding the question and it both annoyed and worried me.

“What does he have on you?”

“There’s some things you don’t wanna know.” He simply said.

“But I wanna know this!”

“No, Betty, you don’t.” He said, and let go of my hand.

“Jughead, if we ever want to have some kind of relationship, I want to know all of you. Your past, things about your family. We can’t build a relationship on secrets, that’ll never work.”

“Have you told me everything about you? I don’t think so.” He was looking away, and it was only then that I realized we’d been arguing. I instantly felt bad; he did something nice for me and I thanked him by arguing.

“I’m sorry, Juggy. I didn’t mean for us to argue, I just don’t like not knowing things.”

“You sure are curious about everything. But it’s okay, I understand. I might tell you someday, but not for a while. It’s really personal, something I haven’t told anyone yet. Only my dad and some of his gang know.”

“It’s not okay, you did something nice and all I did was argue with you about something small. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not really something small though, but it’s still okay. Don’t worry about it. In a healthy relationship, people argue. It’s no big deal.” I could hear that he was being honest, but I still felt bad. I unconsciously hung my head. Then suddenly he pulled me into an alley on the side of the road. Even though I was surprised, I didn’t lift my head. He then tilted my head with one finger, so I had to look at him. “Betty, I mean it, it’s okay. I’m not mad, nor disappointed. We had a little argument, so what? It’s not the end of the world.”

“But it was mean of me to push you for an answer you clearly didn’t want to give, especially after you were so sweet to walk me to school.”

“I get where you’re coming from. But look at me and listen to me. I’m not mad.” I could see and hear he meant what he said, but for some reason my brain was shutting it out, like it wanted me to feel bad. That was probably what happened often, I realized. “I’m not getting through to you, am I?”

“I’m afraid not, I’m sorry. For some reason my mind won’t let me believe you’re speaking the truth, even though I can see and hear that you do.”

“So I need to stop your brain from stopping you to correctly process my message, don’t I? That sounds weird.”

“Yeah, kinda. But I think you’re right though. Sadly enough, brains can’t be stopped.” He smirked at me.

“That’s debatable. I’m sure I can stop your brain and let you process the right message at the same time. Just watch me.” I then realized what he was gonna do.

“Do not use your power over me in these situations, that’s annoying.” I said, meaning to sound strict but failing miserably. I hadn’t touched him in three weeks, my hormones were stronger than my will at the moment and he knew it. He cupped my face in both his hands and slowly moved closer. I tried to turn my head, to show him I “didn’t want him to”, but I did want him to, so it was a weak try. His lips then ghosted over mine, but then he unexpectedly pulled away and stepped back. I knew it wasn’t because someone was watching, but because he was teasing me. I wasn’t having it though, I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him closer to me. I stood up on my tiptoes in an attempt to reach his lips. Now it was his turn to pretend not to want to kiss me and he tried to step away. Just as he was about to succeed walking back, he suddenly stepped forward again, which had me pressed tight in between him and the wall behind me. Then his lips pressed against mine, feeling a bit urgent, but in a nice way. My hands moved up along his back, to pull him closer to me. He let out a soft moan, which made my heart jump.

“God, I’ve missed you.” He whispered against my lips.

“You too.” I managed to get out, before his lips prevented mine from speaking. We stood there for a while, kissing, until I suddenly, faintly heard the school bell. Abruptly, I pushed Jughead away.

“School! We gotta go to school!” I shouted, slightly panicked. Luckily, we had walked for quite a while, which meant school was close. That was a conclusion that I could’ve also come up with from the fact that I heard the bell in the first place, but at that moment I didn’t think of that. Jughead seemed way less stressed, as he casually stepped away from me and started walking towards school. I rushed after him and started pulling him with me, in an attempt to be at school in time. He wasn’t really cooperating though, so it was like trying to pull a dead cow with me.

“Come on, we gotta hurry! I can’t be too late! Not on my first day of not being grounded anymore!” That seemed to work, as he suddenly started walking quicker. We made it to class just in time. 

“Welcome, class. Today I’ll be explaining a new assignment for you. You have to work in duos again, one trio. I’ve already made groups, so don’t bother making a pair of your own. You’ll be writing about the history of one of the art forms, being: painting, drawing, design, music, sculpting, acting or photography. Choose one of these and write an essay on its history. It’s up to you how to do it exactly, I won’t be giving any more instructions. One thing, it has to be longer than six pages. Now, as for the groups, I’ve looked at who I thought would work well together, based on previous assignments. Kevin and Chelsea, Ruth and Roger, Veronica and Daisy, Jayden and Lilly, Carmen and Nick, Jughead and Betty, Charlie and–” It was after he’d said my name and Jughead’s, that my brain stopped listening. I looked to the back of the class, being really excited to work with Jughead once again. Also, according to our teacher, we worked well together, which was also nice to hear. Jughead also seemed pleased. When the teacher was done naming duos, he instructed us to go sit with our partner and discuss what we were going to write about. I said my bye to Kevin and went to sit next to Jughead. Then the teacher came to us.

“I know you have worked together before, but I thought, since your first assignment you worked on together was so good, you wouldn’t mind. If you do, I don’t mind changing the groups.”

“I definitely don’t mind.” I responded, a bit quicker than I maybe should have.

“Me neither.” Jughead agreed.

“Okay, good. I’m looking forward to reading your essay.” The teacher said, and then he walked away.

“So, no Roman Empire?”

“I thought for sure I heard him say something like that a while ago.”

“Well, I don’t necessarily mind. I think this subject won’t be hard to pick.” I said.

“Yeah, I also thought we’d be quick to agree on design.” He said, deadly serious.

“Uhm, I was actually thinking photography, but if you want to do design, then I–”

“Silly, of course we’re doing photography. That is, if you’re okay with it.”

“Definitely.” I felt a bit stupid for thinking he was actually serious. He poked me in my ribs and I instantly did the same to him. We almost got into a small wrestling match, before realizing we were in a classroom. I quietly cleared my throat, which made Jughead chuckle.

“So, do you know as much about photography’s history as you do about literature?”

“I wish I could say yes, but I don’t. I’m going into this almost as blanc as you.”

“Cool, then maybe this time we’ll both learn something new.” I teased.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t find it easy, me knowing everything.” He teased me back.

“Well, it was definitely easy. Not my usual way of working though, I usually work harder for the things I want. But with you, it never seems like I have to work hard, not in any way.” I winked, knowing it was very untrue. He rolled his eyes.

“Me, easy. For sure. Well, I can say the same about you though, Cooper. If I’m easy, then you’re definitely easy too.”

“Let’s just say we’re a complicated cou- duo.” My second slip up that day.

“That twice now.” He said, casually. I felt my cheeks redden though, knowing now he’d heard my slip ups both times. “But yes, I agree, we’re both difficult. Maybe that’s what bring us together though, we understand each other without having to explain everything.”

“Definitely true. That’s one of the biggest reasons I like hanging out with you so much, I feel like I can be me and you understand me. Which is a rare combination when it comes to me.”

“Yeah, I feel the same way. I’m glad now we have a good excuse for your mom to hang out, she won’t be able to take this away from us.”

“You don’t know what she’s capable of. She could get school to have us in separate classes all of the time, if she wanted to. So let’s not give her a reason to.”

“Agreed.” Then the bell rang and we went to our separate classes.

During the short break halfway through the morning, I went to Weatherbee’s office. I knocked on the door and walked inside.

“Hello Betty, how can I help you?”

“Hi, I was wondering if maybe the Blue & Gold could be reopened? I already have two people willing to write for it.”

“Why this request all of a sudden?”

“Because I was talking to Jughead about writing and we found the old office a few months ago, and we both thought it’d be cool if it’d reopen.”

“And I’m guessing you and Jughead are those two people that’ll want to write for it?”

“Yes. What do you think?”

“Well, I mean, we could always give it a try. If it doesn’t work out for whatever reason, we can always close it again.”

“So do we have permission to reopen the Blue & Gold?”

“As far as I’m concerned, yes.”

“Is there anything else we need to discuss with anyone now or can we just clean it and start working on our first paper?”

“The latter is fine. Good luck!” He said, I thanked him and walked away again. I was really excited, but telling Jughead would have to wait until the lunchbreak. Now it was time for my next class.

When the lunchbreak began, I almost danced to our table of excitement.

“Hey, B! What has you so excited? The fact you’re a free woman again or is it something else?” Veronica asked.

“Well, that definitely too. But where’s Jughead?”

“Ah, is he the reason?”

“Not directly.”

“Come on, B, tell me! You know I hate not knowing things.” It was true, Veronica always wanted to know everything. We had that in common.

“We’ll be reopening the Blue & Gold!” Veronica and Kevin, who also just arrived, looked at me like I was crazy. “What? Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“Extremely. Spending a lot of time at school, working on articles no one is gonna read because no one cares. No offense, Betty, but the paper was shut down before because no one read it.”

“True, but we’ll write about cool stuff. I’m positive it’ll work out.”

“That what will work out?” Jughead asked, as he arrived.

“Your relationship with Betty.” Veronica said seriously. Jughead’s eyes instantly went to mine. I frantically shook my head.

“It wasn’t that! We were talking about me getting permission from Weatherbee to reopen the Blue & Gold! Isn’t that great?”

“For real? That’s awesome!” Jughead exclaimed, while picking my up for a hug. I heard Veronica whispering to Kevin:

“Well, at least someone is excited.” And I knew she winked at him. Jughead and I were still embracing each other, when I heard an unfamiliar voice.

“Hey guys, mind if I join?” I quickly pulled away from Jughead, both because I was ashamed and because I wanted to know who it was. Jughead smirked at me. I kind of recognized the boy that stood at our table, but I didn’t know his name.

“Reggie! Of course you can join!” Veronica happily said. She got up so he could sit down, and then sat down on his lap. I saw Fangs walking into our direction as well and he sat down next to Kevin. That meant that now there wasn’t any room left, since Cheryl and Toni had arrived too and claimed one spot.

“Guys, can we sit too?” I asked. Veronica looked at us, and then at the table, as if she only realized now there was no more room. 

“Kevin, Fangs, cosy up! J and B need to sit too.” Fangs looked a bit uncomfortable at first, but when Kevin pulled him on his lap and he saw everyone else was sitting on each other’s lap too, the uncomfortableness went away. Jughead sat down at the free spot and hopped on his lap, feeling very lucky. I leaned into him as I ate my sandwich (which he’d brought for me) and he his burger. When he was done eating, he wrapped his arms around me. Veronica gave me an adoring look. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world at that moment. But, as always when it comes to me, good moments had to be ruined.

“Elizabeth, do you really think mom would approve of this? I’m excited to see what she’ll come up with now.” Polly said, waking me from my dream.

“Leave me alone, Polly. You can see that there’s no more room at the table, so back off.”

“But still, you picked his lap to sit on. And his arms around you isn’t exactly friendly, if you know what I mean.”

“She said back off, I think you should too. You don’t get to control Betty’s behaviour.” Jughead said, but Polly straight up ignored him.

“It’s just that we don’t want to see you get hurt. You haven’t listened to mom at all, have you? About the sandwiches and everything?” So she was the one who told my mom.

“You’re so mean, all you want is to destroy my life. Jughead just helps me through the shit you and mom give me, so don’t go hating on him. Leave him out of this.”

“I would, if I could. It’s just that he’s the problem. Please Betty, listen to mom for once.” I sensed Jughead opening his mouth to say something, but before he could someone else spoke.

“Polly, you know that what you’re saying isn’t true. Also, Betty listens to mom most of the time, let her have this small bit of rebellion. Otherwise I’ll tell mom about the dirt I have on you, if you know what I mean.” It was Charles. He was honestly the last person I expected to stand up for me, but I was glad he did, as he was probably the only person she’d listen to.

“Fuck off, Charles. This is between me and Betty, it has nothing to do with you.”

“If it’s between you and Betty, then don’t drag Jughead into this.”

“But like I said, Jughead–”

“I heard what you said, but I said it wasn’t true. The problem is that you and mom want to control everything about Betty’s life, but when it comes to Jughead, she won’t listen. That’s the problem, not Jughead.”

“Don’t tell mom about me though.”

“If you don’t talk to her about Betty and Jughead.”

“Fine!” Polly screamed, before storming off. I looked at her walking away with big, surprised eyes.

“Thank you, Charles. I’m confused though.” I said. Jughead loosened his grip on me slightly and it was only then that I realized he’d tightened it during the argument.

“You’re welcome. I’ve decided to stop letting her and mom control your everything and stand up for you, as I’m one of the few people they’ll listen to and that wants to speak up. Seeing you with Jughead made me realize what was happening and what I wanted to do with it, on whose side I wanted to be. I’m choosing your side, as I agree with what you’re doing.” He looked at Jughead. “And you, you will have to take good care of my little sister. I’m a protective big brother. She’ll need you more than she’ll ever admit. Never break her heart, I’ll break you.” He threatened, but not in a very serious way. He did definitely mean it though, that was clear. Then he walked away.

“Was that a threat?” Jughead quietly asked me.

“Kinda. Don’t worry about it though.” I turned my head and pressed a little kiss just below his cheekbone. “Just take good care of me.”

“I will.” He promised.

“Damn, B. What was that? Big brother Coop standing up for his little sister Coop? Never thought I’d live to see that day.” Veronica said.

“Me neither, to be honest. I mean, I know he cares about me, but he’s never spoken up before. I think though I have you,” I looked at Jughead, “to thank for it. So, thank you.”

“I think it was mostly you though, he saw you being happy when I was with you. I’m just being me, no need to thank me for that.”

“There is though, without you I wouldn’t be so happy. Now I just hope Polly won’t talk to mom anyway.”

“Seeing the look on her face when Charles mentioned he had dirt on her, I don’t think she will.” Veronica said.

“I wonder what it is though.” I murmured.

“Hey, guys. Entirely different subject, but maybe we could have a sleepover now that Betty’s a free woman again?” Cheryl asked.

“You were grounded?” Reggie asked, full with disbelief.

“Believe it or not, I was.” I replied.

“For hanging out with me.” Jughead clarified.

“Weird mom.” Was all Reggie responded.

“Sleepover?” Cheryl pressed.

“For all of us at this table?” Kevin asked.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m asking now.”

“Well, I’m in for sure. You coming too, Reg?” Veronica said.

“Sure, if you’re there.”

“Fangs and I will come too.” Kevin said.

“Obviously I’m there.” Toni said.

“We’ll come too, right Juggy?” I asked. I smiled at him, hopeful.

“If it makes you happy, then sure.” He shrugged.

“I feel like this has become some sort of tradition.” Toni chuckled.

“Hasn’t it for real though? It’s like, almost once a month now.” Veronica said.

“Where?” I asked.

“We’ve already been to Veronica’s and Cheryl’s, Betty’s doesn’t sound like a good idea with your mom and neither is mine. So that leaves Kevin, Toni, Reggie and Fangs. Although maybe it’s not so smart to bring us all to your places, Reggie and Fangs, when your folks probably don’t know anyone of us.” Reggie and Fangs nodded in agreement.

“If I remember correctly, call it coincidence or whatever, my parents are out of town this weekend. So we could go to my place?” Kevin suggested.

“Sounds good! Do you have enough beds though?” Cheryl asked.

“Well, we can clean my parents’ bed before and after, so that’s two people. Fangs can sleep in my room, with me of course, so that’s four. We have one guest room, but it’s only one single bed. Downstairs we have a comfortable couch, so that’ll make six out of eight. Maybe one person could sleep on the ground? Then we’ll only need one more, but that one could also–”

“Jughead and I will take the guest room.” I said it before I thought about it. Jughead looked at me, a little shocked.

“That’s just one single bed, right?”

“Yes.” I said with a small voice. “We’ll live though, it’s only one night.” 

“Sure, if you’re positive. I’m fine with it.”

“So now everyone has a place to sleep! Cheryl, Toni, are couch and floor good for you?” 

“Sure, no problem.” They said in sync. 

“Awesome! We’ll discuss further tomorrow, now we gotta go to class since the bell rung a few minutes ago.” When I looked around, I saw everyone else had left already. I hadn’t even noticed.

“Yeah, see y’all tomorrow again!” I said, as we all got up and went out own way. Jughead pulled me back by my arm though.

“We’ll work at Pop’s after school?”

“Maybe Blue & Gold today? I’ve got something I wanna show you.”

“Sure, see you after school in our office.” He winked at me and I smiled.

“See you!” I said, and then I quickly walked to class, making it just in time for the second time that day.

After school, I went to the Blue & Gold office as quick as I could, but Jughead was already there. 

“Hey.” He greeted me.

“Hi.” I said, closing the door behind me and giving him a hug.

“So, what’s the plan for today?” He asked.

“I was thinking we should probably start with cleaning and then I have something I want you to read, a few articles I wrote while I was grounded.”

“What are they about?”

“Mostly mental health. I figured I’m probably not the only one struggling with myself and maybe writing some articles about it could help other people. For me it was also nice, to just kinda get it off my chest.”

“Wasn’t it confronting to write as well, though?”

“A little, but I felt like shit already, so it didn’t matter much. Now let’s start cleaning, before it’s already late. I’ll dust everything off, if you could maybe throw away some old, non-useful things?” 

“What kind of things are you thinking though? I mean, I see a lot but I don’t know if there’s anything of special value to the school or something. Maybe the other way around would be better.” 

“Yeah, true. I’ll clean up if you dust off.”

“Yes ma’am.” He saluted. We pulled the dust blankets from the computers and then started cleaning. After about an hour and a half, the room looked completely different than when we first went inside. Miraculously, the computers still worked. There were no passwords, so we each created our own. It was actually quite a nice room, now that it was clean. I wouldn’t mind spending a lot of time here, even during school for some peace and quiet. I was standing in front of the one window, looking outside at the rain that was pouring from the sky, when Jughead suddenly wrapped his arms around me from behind. It made me jump slightly, as I hadn’t expected it. He rested his head on my shoulder.

“I’m glad we’ll get to spend some time here together too.” He whispered in my ear. His breath tickled my neck.

“Me too. Hopefully a lot of time.” Then I turned around in his arms and stood up on my tiptoes. He met me halfway and I was filled with happiness when our lips met. One of his hands went up to cup my face and he placed the other on the small of my back, to pull me closer. My hands went into his hair, knocking off his beanie. I hoped I would never get used to the feeling of his lips against mine, it was a special feeling that I didn’t want to fade away with the course of time. I could kiss him for hours. But when his lips parted a little and his tongue lightly traced my bottom lip, I was struck by a panic attack. I didn’t want to and couldn’t help it, but before I knew it, I had let go of him and stepped back. He instantly seemed to know what was wrong.

“I’m sorry, Betty. That was too soon, I wasn’t thinking and got carried away. I’m sorry.” The fact that he apologized for just being a normal human being at that point made me sad. I was the one who should apologize, not him.

“Don’t apologize please. This has nothing to do with you, it’s all me. It just came unexpected and my body panicked. My brain didn’t mind, but my body flipped. I’m sorry.” I emphasized on the apology.

“It’s okay, this is all new to you. I understand, don’t worry.” I felt really bad that I couldn’t give him what he probably wanted, even though he said it was fine. I wanted to thank him in a way that no one else could, but the second I’d get a chance, I blew it by panicking. Why was he being so patient with me? I wasn’t giving him anything back. He probably noticed I was spiralling, because his hands went to mine. He traced his fingers over my palms, to hold my hands. But he stopped short when he felt the cuts there. He looked down at our hands and I quickly pulled mine away from his and balled them into loose fists.

“Betty?” He asked.

“It’s nothing, forget about it.” I hoped so bad he would.

“I– What was that?” He didn’t know, or pretended not to know, what he’d just felt, which I was relieved about. But he did know he felt something, and he wanted to know what. I couldn’t blame him for that, but I wasn’t sure I wanted him to know this, to burden him even more by telling this about me too.

“Betty, please, I wanna know.” He begged. “I wanna help you with whatever you’re going through, but I can’t when I don’t know what’s going on.” I stubbornly shook my head. Then he suddenly grabbed my wrists and pulled me to him. My hands were still balled into fists though, so he couldn’t see anything. My sleeve had rolled up a bit because of him, so he did see my fresh cuts there.

“Betty…” He sighed.

“Look, I’m sorry okay! It was just really hard and I did my best not to but sometime it was just too much and I couldn’t take it anymore and I felt so bad about everything and I just had to do something, I’m sorry!” I said in one breath. I felt a tear rolling down my cheek.

“Hey, calm down, it’s okay. I’m not disappointed or something, I just feel sorry for you. I know you don’t do it for fun or attention, but only when you feel like it’s your only escape. I’m sorry for you that you’ve apparently felt like that quite a few times in the past three weeks, and it makes me sad for you.”

“But still, I promised you I wouldn’t and I did!” I was still kind of freaking out.

“You didn’t promise you wouldn’t do it, you only said you’d try. That’s something different.” He let go of my wrists and traced his fingers lightly over the scars on my arm. I got goose bumps from his touch, which made him smile. I took a deep breath to calm myself down. His hands slowly moved up along my arm until they reached my shoulders and then he pulled me in for a hug. He held me tight until I’d calmed down. I was so grateful that he was there, but at the same time I felt bad for him for having to put up with me and all my troubles. He deserved better than that. When my crying had stopped, he let go of me and took a step back, so he could look at me.

“Will you please tell me?” He asked. I walked away from him and sat down on a small couch that was in a corner of the room. He followed me and sat down next to me. I let out a sigh and put one of my hands, still balled up into a fist, in one of his. He put his hand flat on my forearms, his fingers at the bottom of my hand. Then he slowly moved his hand down, fingers touching mine and flattening my hand. Then he put his hand under mine, so that my cuts became visible.

“How did this happen?” He didn’t sound mad or upset, so that was a relief. Instead of answering, I balled my free hand into a fist to demonstrate what I did to make that happen. He then grabbed that hand too and put both of mine in both of his. Then he moved our hands up to his face and kissed my damaged hands. I let out a sigh as he did so. Then I laid my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and the other held both of mine on his lap.

“Thank you, Juggy.” I whispered.

“Always.” He replied. We sat in silence for a few minutes before I realized I should maybe go home. I slowly lifted my head from his shoulder and got up, offering him my hand to help him up too.

“I should probably start heading home.” He nodded and we went to get our bags from the desk. Then we walked out of the school, hand in hand.

“We completely forgot to let you show me your articles!” Jughead suddenly said.

“Shit, we did… I guess we’ll do that another time then?”

“Definitely. Shall we work on History tomorrow though?”

“Sounds good. We’ll go to Pop’s?”

“Yes, my treat though.” I wanted to argue, but I knew it wouldn’t change anything.

“Fine.” He squeezed my hand. I only then realized we weren’t walking towards my house, but we were walking towards the parking lot.

“No way, I’m not getting on your bike again. No way in hell.”

“Come on, Betts, please?” He begged me. I shook my head. “You need me to change your mind?”

“Don’t even think about it. I sometimes just wanna be strong okay, it’s mean to stop my brain with your… skill…” He chuckled.

“It’s just my charm. Please Betts? I’ll drop you off a few streets away from your house so momma Coop doesn’t know.”

“Nope, I’d rather walk.”

“But I’m gonna be taking my bike. Please?” He wasn’t gonna give up, that was clear. Neither was I though. I shook my head again.

“Why are you so scared to though? It’s not that dangerous.”

“The problem is that it, in fact, is dangerous. I don’t intend to die before I’m 50. Motorcycles don’t contribute to that goal.”

“But you know me, I’ll drive safely.” We had arrived at his bike at this point.

“I know, but I still don’t wanna risk it.”

“So you’ll let me go alone? Don’t you care about me at all?” He winked.

“That’s mean.” I giggled. “But yes, I’m letting you go alone. Bye, see you tomorrow again!” I yelled, as I turned around and tried to walk away. He yanked me back by my arm though and when I was close to him, he wrapped both his arms around me in a tight grip. I had no chance of escaping his iron grip, but I tried anyway.

“Just give up, you know I’m way stronger than you.” I knew he was right, but I didn’t want to admit it. I kept trying to escape, unsuccessfully though. In the end I gave up and held still. He didn’t loosen his grip on me though and I felt his breath on my neck. He left a soft kiss there and then let me go.

“You’re coming, Cooper?” I grimaced, but accepted the helmet he gave me. “Allow me.” He said, and then slowly pulled the elastic out of my hair, just like he had last time. I put on my helmet when he was done and sat down behind him. I pulled of his beanie, so he could put on his helmet. I wrapped my arms around his waist and held the beanie in my hands the entire way. It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be, but still, I didn’t like it. He stopped a few streets away from my house, for my mom’s sake. I got off his bike and he did too. He took his beanie from me, so I could take off my helmet. I put it on his bike.

“Was it as bad as you thought?”

“To be completely honest, no, it wasn’t. But I sure as hell didn’t like it.” It came out a bit harsh, so I added: “But thank you for driving me home anyway.”

“No problem.” He said, handing me back my elastic. I put my hair in a ponytail again and took my bag. Then I went back to Jughead and gave him a hug. He hugged me back tightly.

“I’ll see you tomorrow again.” I said.

“I can’t wait.” He let go of me, when I suddenly realized something.

“You walked me to school this morning, how come your bike was at school?” He chuckled.

“I’m surprised you only realized now. Well, when you had PE, I walked to the drive-in to get my bike.”

“Why though? You know I don’t like it.”

“I do, but I wanted to see if I could convince you to come anyway.” He winked at me.

“And you did. Congratulations.” I said sarcastically.

“Hey, don’t be mad. I was just teasing.”

“Fine, I’ll forgive you. Now I really gotta go home. Bye!” 

“Bye Betts.” Then I walked home. Behind me I heard his engine rev, and he took off in the opposite direction from me. When I got home, my mom was waiting for me.

“Charles wants to talk to you. He’s in his room.” I was surprised, but went upstairs to his room. I quickly dropped my bag in my room and then knocked on his door.

“Come in!” He yelled, so I walked inside.

“Mom said you wanted to talk.” I said.

“Yes, but close the door first.” I did and then sat down on his bed. “So, I wanted to talk about you and Jughead.”

“What about us?”

“Are you guys dating?” I was a little surprised by his question, but answered honestly anyway.

“Not officially.”

“Okay. Do you think you will?”

“Probably.” I wanted to know where he was going with this.

“Because I was thinking about what happened during lunch. I said I was choosing your side. I thought I maybe could elaborate on that a bit. I know I already told Polly to back off, but I don’t think you’re planning on telling mom about it if you guys become official?”

“Not for a while, no. She’ll just ground me again.”

“Yeah, she probably would. But the thing is, I see how happy Jughead makes you. I can tell you feel comfortable with him and if it were up to you, you’d spend every spare minute with him, am I right?” I nodded. “So I was thinking, maybe I could do something to get mom to lay off a bit too. She won’t listen to what you say, because in her opinion you’re blinded by love and you don’t hear what she says. I know though that you definitely hear what mom says, but that you know how Jughead is and that you trust him. Mom can’t see that it’s not naïve, she only knows how she was hurt by his dad. But if I tell her how happy and comfortable you look around him, she’ll believe me, because there’s no way I’m blinded by love or that I’m saying it because I get something from it. When I talk to her, she’ll listen. I’m willing to do that for you, as I think you deserve some happiness in your life. We’ve all been very hard on you, but I’ve decided to stop doing that. You deserve better, you’ve worked so hard your entire life. I feel like you deserve this.” I was shocked.

“I don’t really know what to say, but thank you is something I do wanna say. So, thank you so, so much!” I smiled broadly.

“There’s one condition though. Before I talk to mom, I want to have an open conversation with Jughead, so I can decide for myself if he’s worthy of your love. I won’t be going through trouble for a guy that’ll break up with you after two months. I’m not saying Jughead is like that, but I want to know for sure and I want to get to know him a bit. And you guys need to be official, otherwise it all won’t make that much sense. I won’t fight for an unofficial relationship. But after those things have happened, I’d wanna talk to mom about it for you, so she’ll try to accept it and you can hang out non-secretly.”

“Thank you so much, Charles. The talk with Jughead can definitely happen. Us getting official though, I don’t know when we will. I’m not gonna say this to Jughead, because I don’t want us to be forced together, you know. But I’m also not gonna ask him, definitely not after this conversation. I don’t want this conversation to be any part of the reason we’d be getting together, that’d be wrong. When he’s asked me though, I’ll tell him about this and I’ll come to you for that conversation with Jughead. Does that sound like a good idea to you?”

“Sure, sounds good. So for now, I won’t be doing anything and you’ll come to me when there’s “progress”.” He winked at me and I rolled my eyes.

“Yes. You’re the best.” I said and then got up to give him a hug.

“I know. Now get out again, I’m getting back to my game.” I thanked him one last time and then went to my room. I really wanted to tell Jughead about this, but I couldn’t. Mom then called for us to come down to have dinner. I went downstairs and ate my salad, while everyone else had soup. Charles looked at me questioningly and I shook my head. Doing anything about my eating habits (forced on me by my mom and Polly) was something for another time. We had a casual conversation, as always. After dinner, I helped cleaning up the table and kitchen and then went to my room to do some homework. When it was done, I called Veronica. She picked up at the first ring.

“Hey girl, what’s up?” She said.

“You were quick!”

“Yeah, I was texting Reggie.”

“How are you guys?”

“Almost had our first kiss, so I think we’re good.”

“That’s awesome!”

“Yeah, pretty much.” I could hear that she was smiling. “So, how’re things with your love life?”

“Pretty good, I think. There’s some great news though, but you can’t tell anyone.”

“I promise. What is it?”

“Well, I got Charles on my side again, which is amazing. I finally remember again why I love him. He’s offered to go talk to mom about Jughead and me and mom will for sure listen to him.”

“That’s amazing! I’m so happy for you, B!”

“There are two conditions though.” I said seriously.

“Oh no, what are those?”

“First of all, Jughead and I need to be official. Secondly, Charles wants to have a deep conversation with Jughead first, to kinda figure him out I think. He wants to know what he’s gonna fight for, if it’s worth it or not.”

“Understandable, I’d say. So my best friend is getting her first official relationship soon! That’s so exciting!”

“Yeah, with your ex-boyfriend…” I laughed.

“It’s a bit of weird situation, huh? I really don’t mind though, I don’t think Jughead and I were meant to be more than friends. The way it is now just feels right, you know.”

“Yeah, I feel the same way. But I’m also a bit scared.”

“Why? Did something happen?”

“Well, I’ve screwed up twice already. I’m just afraid that he’ll soon be done with me panicking about every new thing and that he won’t be able to keep dealing with all my shit. I also feel pretty dependant on him, which is scaring me. I don’t want that, but I also can’t help it. I’m just scared of screwing up.”

“What happened?”

“Well, the first time he tried to kiss me, I panicked. And today, when he wanted to take the kissing a step further, I panicked again. I come with a lot of baggage and so far, he’s been able to deal with it. I’m afraid though he’ll be over it soon, which already hurts to even think about.”

“A first relationship is always the hardest. You don’t know what to expect and how to behave. But lucky for you, it’s not his first. He’s stronger than you think and in my opinion, he really likes you. So I would try not to worry too much about it, as hard as it can be though. Just try to live in the moment and be happy with the time you have together.”

“That’s good advice. Hard to do, but I’ll definitely try. Thanks, V. I love you.”

“Love you too, B. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see ya!” I hung up and changed into my pyjamas. Before I went to sleep, I sent Jughead a text.

'Thank you for everything and goodnight. XXX'

Only two minutes later I already got a reply.

'You’re welcome, I do it with love. Goodnight, can’t wait to see you again'

It made me smile.

'Where are you sleeping tonight?'

'At the drive-in. Don’t worry, it’s quite comfortable.'

'Ok, I’ll believe you. Goodnight, Juggy'

'Goodnight Betts'


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a filler chapter, I think. I personally like it though :)  
And some more Jughead's history and Betty opens up a bit more :)

When I woke up, I was excited for this day for once. I got up and got dressed. After I’d put my hair in a ponytail, I went downstairs. No one was up yet, so I decided to prepare breakfast. I made pancakes, since they were Charles’s favourite. Just as I’d finished my last pancake, Polly came downstairs.

“How nice of you, to make breakfast. Hey, now that Charles is on your side, it doesn’t mean I agree with what you do. He might get mom to listen, but I’ll always be in your way.”

“Why though? What did I ever do to you? I’m your sister.”

“Since you were born, mom has been giving less attention to me. Even though I’m supposed to be all grown up now, it still hurts how she spends more time worrying about you than caring about me. It’s not necessarily you, but it’s basically just the fact that you exist.”

“Gee, thanks. Well, you do your thing, I’m not gonna let myself be bothered by it.” I turned away from her to get myself some crackers. She grabbed a serving and sat down at the table, just as mom and dad came down too.

“Thank you Betty, for making breakfast. I just couldn’t get out of bed this morning.” My mom said.

“No problem.” They both also grabbed a serving and I went upstairs again, to pack my bag and check my phone. I had a text from both Veronica and Jughead.

'Hey B, good morning. I’ve got some tea to spill about Reggie and me, meet me in the locker room in the first break'

I texted her back.

'I’ll be there, can’t wait'

Then I read Jughead’s text, which made me feel warm inside and very happy.

'Good morning, Betts. I hope you slept well. I’m waiting for you where I dropped you off yesterday, no bike. I’ll be there around 8'

I checked my clock, which said it was already 7:53. I quickly got my bag and went downstairs again. I called a quick bye into the living room and then almost ran outside. I speed walked to where Jughead said he’d be. When I was almost there, I realized I’d forgotten to take my jacket and I was getting a bit cold. I didn’t want to go back though, so I kept walking. When I rounded the last corner, I saw Jughead. I ran up to him and threw my arms around him. He hugged me back tightly.

“Hey sunshine, how’re you feeling today?”

“Quite good, actually. I’m happy to see you.”

“I’m happy to see you too.”

“Have you been waiting for a long time?”

“No, maybe two minutes. Hey, aren’t you cold? Why didn’t you bring a jacket?”

“I forgot. I was a bit in a hurry.” He instantly shrugged out of his Sherpa and handed it to me. I put it on. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. I wouldn’t want you to catch a cold.” He grabbed my hand as we started walking towards school. 

“So do you always sleep at the drive-in?”

“Yeah, I don’t really have anywhere else to go now, do I?”

“I guess you don’t. I wish I could tell you to spend every night in my room, but my mom has been watching me like a hawk. There’s no way she won’t find out.”

“That’s okay. Like I said, it’s quite comfortable. I’ll show you sometime.”

“I’d like that.”

“So, I have a question. It’s okay if you don’t want to answer, just tell me if you don’t. But I was wondering, why you dig your nails into your palms? Is that from stress too?”

“Well, that’s a good question. To be honest, I don’t really know why. I only know it happens when I in fact do feel a lot of stress, like when mom starts a rant about what I do wrong. It’s kind of a way to keep my anger inside, so we don’t get into a huge fight. I think it usually happens when I don’t want to feel certain emotions.”

“Does it also have some sort of link with your other self-harm?”

“I didn’t think so at first, but I realized that when for whatever reason I wouldn’t hurt myself like that, the digging my fingers in my palms got worse. So I think it must have some sort of connection, but I don’t know what and how exactly.”

“Thank you for being so honest with me. I wish there was something I could do to make you feel better and to not make you feel like you need to do any of these things.”

“Well, in fact you’re doing a lot by just being here. Also talking to you about it helps a lot. So you are doing things to help me.”

“Does me being around have any positive effect on the self-harm?”

“I think so. For one thing, whenever I’m around you, I never feel the need to do so. Being able to call you when I feel like doing it, also helps a lot. And one more thing, you make me feel happy. When I’m happy, I’m stronger and when I’m stronger, I don’t feel like doing self-harm, as I feel strong enough to deal with it. So you are making a big difference.”

“That’s nice to hear. I’m glad I am.”

“Me too.” We’d arrived at school and I gave him back his Sherpa. Then we walked to class, where we sat down together.

“Alright class, today we’ll be starting a new chapter. Working on the assignment is something to do at home, for those who wonder.” I was a bit disappointed, but I also didn’t really mind. It meant I had to sit and be quiet, which I was good at. Classes went by pretty quickly and before I knew it, it was our first break. I went to the locker room to meet Veronica, who was already waiting for me.

“Betty! I’ve been waiting for forever!”

“Class literally ended one minute ago, so don’t exaggerate. Now, spill that tea.”

“So, yesterday Reggie and I hung out together. I wasn’t expecting something to happen, nor was I planning on it. But then he insisted on going to my room and– don’t give me that look, we didn’t hook up. But we did go to my room and did some homework together, when he suddenly pulled me on his lap and kissed my cheek. Greedy as I am, I turned my face a little and we had our first kiss! It was fantastic, Betty! He’s such a good kisser, damn.” Her eyes were all dreamy, which made me laugh. “Why are you laughing?”

“It just makes me happy to see you so happy, you’re all dreamy-eyed. It’s adorable, really. So you guys have really taken things to the next level, huh?”

“It feels like it, yeah. I don’t know how things will be now though, I haven’t talked to him since. Like, we kissed for a while and then talked a bit, but then he went home. He also didn’t text or anything, so I don’t know how he feels about it.”

“Let me guess, you didn’t text him either?”

“No, of course not. I don’t wanna seem desperate or something. Right now, I’m just really looking forward to seeing him at lunch.”

“I wouldn’t count on it too much, he has only joined us once, it’s not necessarily a ‘forever thing’.”

“I hope he’ll join again though. And Fangs too, he seems nice. He and Kevin are so cute, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, they’re adorable. I haven’t seen Kev so happy for a long time.”

“Me neither. Speaking of happiness, you seem pretty happy yourself too. Anything to do with Jughead?” I instantly felt my cheeks redden, so no answer was needed for Veronica. “Oh my gosh, you’re blushing. How cute!”

“Shut up.” I giggled. “But yeah, we’re doing great. Nothing much changed since last night though. But why didn’t you tell me about Reggie last night?”

“I wanted to tell you in person, to see your reaction. Not that I expected anything bad or something, it’s just that I feel like relationship talk is a face-to-face conversation.”

“Not when it’s about my relationship though.”

“That’s different, I couldn’t wait to hear about yours.”

“Sure. During lunch, will you save me a seat next to you?”

“Of course. I’ll see you then!”

“Yeah, bye!” We both went to our separate classes, as the bell had just rung.

When I walked to our table at lunch, I was the first one there. I assumed Economics must’ve run late, since Veronica was usually the first at our table. When I looked at the door, I saw Kevin and Cheryl coming my way.

“Hey, Betty. Where’s everyone else?”

“I don’t know. Didn’t either of them say anything to you?”

“Tee-Tee said she’d be a bit later, something about asking a teacher for an explanation. I don’t know about the rest though.” Cheryl answered. I looked at the Southside table, to see if either Fangs or Reggie might be there. Neither of them were. I didn’t know why, but I started feeling a bit worried. Kevin noticed.

“Relax, Betty. They’re only about two minutes late, nothing to stress about.” He was right, the break had only started two minutes ago and there were still a lot of people walking through the door. I checked my phone and saw I had a text from Veronica.

'I’m “busy” during lunch, I don’t know if I’ll come join you. Otherwise I’ll see you tomorrow'

“Veronica just texted me, she’s “busy” this break.”

“Busy with what?” Kevin asked.

“Probably Reggie.” Cheryl simply said, and I had a feeling she was probably right. Then Cheryl suddenly pointed at something.

“What’s that right there? What’s happening?” She sounded a bit panicky so I quickly looked in the direction she was pointing to. I didn’t see anything though, and just as I was about to ask what she was seeing, someone put his hands in front of my eyes. I let out a short scream and heard someone laughing behind me. I’d recognise that laugh out of thousands.

“Jughead! Never, ever, ever do that again!” I yelled. Then I heard Cheryl and Kevin laughing too. “Cheryl! There was nothing there, was there? You only said it to distract me! That’s so mean!” I tried to sound serious, but it was also really funny, so it wasn’t long before I was laughing too.

“I filmed it!” Kevin said, proud.

“Oh no, you didn’t! Give me your phone right now!” I got up and tried to grab his phone, but he moved away. “Kevin, give me your phone!” I walked around the table towards him and he quickly got up too, to walk away from me.

“Guys, help. She’s charging me now. Save me, I’m innocent!” I cracked up, but kept following him. He was doing something on his phone as he walked away from me and I guessed it was probably something like sending it to Cheryl, so it wouldn’t be lost. Then I started running after him, in an attempt to stop him.

“Run Kev!” Cheryl shouted. Kevin looked back and saw me coming closer, and he started running as well. Not away from the table or anything, just in circles around it. I changed directions a few times, but he was still too quick. At one point, I caught him by surprise though and managed to get hold of his jacket.

“Now give me your phone.” I threatened.

“Jughead, do something!” Cheryl shouted.

“Why not you?”

“Because my bae just arrived.” So apparently Toni had arrived at our table. I was still trying to reach Kevin’s phone, but I was failing. When I did almost reach it, I was suddenly pulled back by two strong arms around my waist.

“Jughead, let go! You’re supposed to be on my side, remember?”

“Wasn’t I already not on your side when I scared you, knowing Kevin was filming?”

“Ouch, but true. Now, you can make it up to me by teaming up. Please, Juggy?”

“Don’t let her talk you into this, Jughead. Just hold her for a few more seconds, then the video will be safe in my gallery too.” Cheryl said, and then I knew I had no chance of winning this. So instead I turned around in Jughead’s arms and gave him a hug, which he instantly returned.

“I hate you.” I whispered to him.

“I like you too.” He replied.

“Thanks. Now prove it.” I grumbled. He bent his head and gave me a quick kiss on my lips. I smiled at him when he pulled away again.

“Ew, gross! Do not express your love in public please, there’s sensitive eyes around.” Cheryl said. As I was about to give a response, someone else beat me to it.

“They’re cute though, so they’re allowed.” It was Veronica, with Reggie. I stepped away from Jughead, realizing that both of the times Reggie’s gone to our table, I was hugging Jughead. Reggie seemed to realize it too and he winked at me. Then we all sat down, Cheryl on Toni’s lap, Veronica on Reggie’s, Fangs (who’d just arrived) on Kevin’s and me on Jughead’s. He took his lunch bag out of his bag and gave me a sandwich, which I accepted gratefully.

“So, girls, I’ve been trying some things with a new choreo, but I’m stuck on some points. I was thinking maybe this afternoon a closed training with just us four? To figure out some new moves” Cheryl asked. I’d forgotten all about practice this afternoon…

“Shit, Juggy, I forgot to mention I had cheerleading practice… Would you be okay with waiting?”

“You forgot about cheerleading?” Cheryl asked, playing shocked.

“Sorry Cher, but I was a bit distracted when Jughead and I agreed on meeting this afternoon.” I said, looking at Jughead.

“I’ll wait, if I get to watch.” Jughead said. I looked at Cheryl.

“Well, he’s not on the football team, so sure, he can watch.” I smiled and nodded. My sandwich was finished, but I still felt a little hungry. So I turned my head and took a bite of Jughead’s burger.

“Hey! This is my food!” He complained.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. You don’t mind though, do you?” I asked, as I took another bite.

“I don’t think there’s much I can do about it, can I?” I shook my head, taking one more bite. Then he turned away from me to finish the rest on his own.

“Am I gonna get an answer?” Cheryl asked.

“Right, sorry. I like that idea.” I said, and Veronica and Toni agreed too.

“Good. I’ll let everyone else know it’s cancelled, so we’re alone. With one spectator.” Jughead smirked. Then the bell rang and we all went to our separate classes.

After school, I went to the gym. Cheryl was already there, but the other two girls weren’t yet. I changed into my cheerleading outfit, feeling quite excited for Jughead to see it. We had a new uniform, one that was a bit cooler than the first one. This one was a white T-shirt, with yellow on the sides. It came with dark blue shorts, which had white on the sides. We did still have the same high, white with yellow striped socks and the same white shoes. I put a dark blue (same colour as my shorts) scrunchie over my elastic in my hair. Veronica and Toni had arrived too and when we were all done changing, we went into the gym. I saw Jughead sitting all the way up and motioned for him to come down. He came down to the bottom and sat down there, eating a bag of chips. Cheryl turned on the music and showed us what she had so far. After that, we tried out a lot of different moves to put in at places where she didn’t know what to do. At first, I felt a bit self-conscious with Jughead watching us, but after a few minutes, I’d forgotten he was there. We came up with quite an awesome choreo, if I said so myself. Not too complicated, but it looked cool. After about an hour, we were done.

“Thanks girls, that was fun. I’m also quite excited to do this with the whole gang.” Cheryl sounded very enthusiastic.

“Yeah, I like it too.” Veronica said. Toni and I agreed.

“Okay, I think were done now. I’ll see y’all tomorrow again!” Cheryl walked away, seeming like she was a bit in a hurry. Toni quickly went after her, calling a bye.

“Hey, B, I was thinking, maybe on Friday, before the sleepover, we could hang out at my place a bit?”

“Sure, sounds good. I’ll come with you right after school?”

“Okay. Then before we head to Kevin’s, we can go by your house to get your stuff. Now I gotta go, see you guys tomorrow!” Veronica waved and walked away.

“That leaves just the two of us.” Jughead whispered, suddenly standing behind me. I jumped a little.

“Gee, you’re really into scaring me today, huh?”

“Sorry. I just like catching you by surprise.”

“Well, I like it a little less.” I said and I turned around. He put his hands on my hips.

“You looked really good just now. I don’t think I’ve seen you so relaxed and free often, it was nice.”

“Thank you. I actually feel free and relaxed when cheerleading. It’s one of the few times when I feel like me and also like that’s okay.”

“Do you feel like you can be yourself when you’re with me?”

“Yes, definitely. That’s why I like hanging out with you so much, I feel so, I don’t know, appreciated?”

“Well, I definitely appreciate you. I also like it when you open up to me, it confirms that you trust me. It always makes me happy inside when people trust me, that’s when I feel relaxed.”

“Are there other times when you feel relaxed or free?”

“When I’m writing, that always makes me feel calm and like everything will be okay.”

“What are you currently writing?” He seemed to hesitate for a while, but answered anyway.

“A story about a boy and a girl, who’ve both had a hard life and find comfort within each other. It’s maybe a little based of off our story, only these two people have gone through even worse things. For some reason it always makes me feel better about my own life when I write about someone having an even worse life. It sounds weird, doesn’t it?”

“No, I get it. When you’re busy feeling sorry for someone else, you don’t have time to feel sorry for yourself. It makes sense to me.”

“I wanna thank you, Betty. For always being there for me, but mostly for making me feel like it’s okay to be who I am. You don’t know everything about me yet, but you will. So far though, you’ve accepted everything I’ve told you and it hasn’t driven you away from me. I’m not used to people accepting me, so for me it’s very special that you do. It means more to me than I’ll ever be able to put to words. So thank you, for everything.”

“You’re very welcome.” I said, and then hugged him tightly. “Will you maybe tell me something more about your past?”

“What do you wanna know?”

“When I told you about your dad, you said there was something that had to do with you too. Maybe that?”

“It’s not a nice story though. You sure you wanna know it?”

“It’s in the past, right? You were a different Jughead back then?”

“Yes, I was. Very different.”

“Then I wanna know.” He took a deep breath before answering. His hands were on my hips again

“Okay. When I was about fifteen, right after my mom left, it was a dark time for me. My dad has been leading a gang for at least as long as I’m alive. When mom left, I felt like I had to do something new, to fill up the void. I joined the Southside Serpents, as I felt like it was the only option. I got through the rough initiation and was officially a member. One thing I didn’t know before joining though, was the way they earned their money. Barely anything of that was legal. Mostly we dealt drugs. About a month after I joined, my dad had me delivering some drugs. Unfortunately though, I was supposed to deliver it at a place with a camera. My dad knew there was one, that’s why he purposefully sent me. He already suspected I’d wanna leave quite soon after I’d joined and he needed something on me so I wouldn’t go spilling their secrets. He has camera footage of me delivering drugs. He was right to suspect I’d wanna leave though, two months after my delivery, I told him I’d changed my mind and didn’t want to be a Serpent after all. He said that you can’t simply leave, I’ve joined a lifetime gang. I persisted though, so he called a meeting for all the Serpents. I told them what I’d decided, but of course they were not amused. They beat me up and cut off my tattoo. My dad just stood there and watched how I was being beaten to within an inch of my life. They stopped beating me in time though and were nice enough to drive me to the hospital. After spending about I think six weeks there, I was good enough to go. The doctors didn’t agree, but I couldn’t spend another day locked up inside that building. I knew I couldn’t go home again, that’s when I started living on the streets. Everything else I already told you. That’s by the way also the reason why I was beaten so often at school, but it was never as bad as that one time.” I was shocked and didn’t know what to say for a short time. He let me process it all and didn’t say anything either.

“When you talked about your past the last time, you also mentioned ending up in the hospital once. Was that the time when you said you were quitting the Serpents?”

“Yes. You paid quite close attention, I’m impressed.”

“I am so sorry for you Juggy. No one should ever have to go through that, but you did. You don’t deserve that. I wish I could’ve been there for you then, that I could’ve helped you. It’s awful.” I hugged him again.

“Thank you, Betty.” He said, as his hands moved up along my back to hug me back. We stood there for a while, before I stepped away from him.

“We have to go to Pop’s, to work on History.”

“Yeah, we should get going.” I gave him a quick kiss on his cheek and went to the locker room to get changed. When I walked outside again, he was waiting for me. He grabbed my hand and we walked to Pop’s. When we got there, he pulled me to a booth in the back. We sat down, ordered two milkshakes and then I opened my laptop.

“So, what will we start with? I was thinking we could talk about the first photo and how it was taken first? That might be a good introduction.”

“Yeah, sounds good. I’ve done a bit of research yesterday, so don’t be surprised when I already know some things. I couldn’t not.” I chuckled.

“Typical.” I opened a new document and Google. I searched ‘first photograph’ and opened the second website that I saw.

“Why the second?”

“Because I never pick the first. Everyone else already does and the second one needs some visitors too.” Now it was his turn to chuckle.

“You’re such a weirdo. I like it though.”

“Thanks, I think.” We read through the site and then I went back to our document. I started writing what I remembered. When I thought I had everything, Jughead suddenly reached around me to type something. His arm was now around me, so I leaned into him a bit. He added a few things to my paragraph and then left his arm around my shoulder.

“You don’t mind, do you?” He asked and I shook my head. We wrote a few more paragraphs, before I realized it was already 6:15pm. We’d lost complete track of time, my mom would be pissed.

“Shoot, I gotta go. I’m already very much too late.” I started packing my bag again. “Thank you for telling me more about you, even though it wasn’t a happy story, I’m glad I know now.”

“It’s quite a relief to have told you, to be honest. Or maybe it’s your reaction that is a relief, I didn’t expect you to react so calmly and accepting. But then again, you’re special Cooper. I’m glad I met you.”

“I’m glad I met you too. I’ll see you tomorrow again?”

“I’ll be waiting around the corner, same time.” He promised. Then we got up and I rushed home. When I got home though, I was surprised to find my mom not mad. She greeted me like it was normal I was home after six. There was one serving set apart for me, which she instantly started warming up.

“Did you have fun at Veronica’s?” She asked. I was confused for a second, but then decided to play along would be the best.

“Yeah, I had a good time. It’s been quite some time since we hung out together, so it was nice to have some girl time. Speaking of girl time, is it okay if I go to a sleepover at Kevin’s this weekend?”

“Last time I checked, Kevin is not a girl. Who’s going?”

“True, but it’s also hanging out. And just our gang.”

“Being?”

“Does it really matter?”

“Just answer the question, Elizabeth.”

“Veronica, Kevin, Cheryl, Jughead, Toni, Reggie and Fangs. And myself, of course.”

“Your gang has changed quite a bit since you last mentioned it. I’m for example missing Archie, what happened there?”

“He’s hanging out with his football buddies a lot lately, we’ve kinda lost touch.”

“And those Reggie and Fangs? Who are they? I’ve never heard of them before.”

“They’re both transfers from Southside High. Veronica is kinda dating Reggie and Kevin’s kinda dating Fangs.”

‘So you’ll be surrounded by couples? Does that sound fun to you?” I was surprised by this question, either my mom hadn’t heard me mentioning Jughead’s name or she believed I actually stopped hanging out with him.

“Well, I’ll also be surrounded by friends. So I’m looking forward to it. Can I go?”

“Sure. When is it exactly though?”

“I actually don’t know yet, but I think Friday till Saturday.” My mom nodded approvingly and then handed me my plate. I had an actual meal for once, with a piece of meat, potatoes and some lettuce. All in small proportions though, but still. I thanked her and went to the living room. There I ran into Charles, who winked at me. He’d apparently told mom I ‘went to Veronica’. I mouthed a ‘thank you’ to him. When I’d finished my dinner, I went to my room and did some homework. When I checked my phone real quick, I had a text from Jughead.

'How was your mom?'

I replied.

'Charles covered for me, said I was at Veronica’s. So it’s totally fine :)'

His reply came a few seconds after that.

'I’m glad to hear that'

Then I went back to my homework. When I was finished, I got ready for bed and did some reading. Just before going to sleep, I checked my phone.

'Goodnight Betty x'

It was a text from Jughead.

'Goodnight Juggy x'

I fell asleep with a happy feeling once again.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jughead has a gift for Betty :)  
Also, he has a lot of pent-up emotions which may or may not come out a little in this chapter ... :)  
This is my longest chapter yet  
And Charles is still very eager to help Betty

I woke up before my alarm went off. I stretched, got up and got ready for the day. When I went downstairs, I was surprised to see my mom up already too.

“Good morning, mom.”

“Good morning, Betty. You’re up early.”

“Yeah, I woke up and felt well rested, so I decided to get up and make breakfast for everyone. You beat me to it, though. Is there something I can do?”

“Could you bake some eggs?” So I did. “Polly came to me yesterday.” I stopped what I was doing.

“What did you talk about?”

“She told me Charles had threatened her to talk, but she felt like she couldn’t keep this away from me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know, Betty. She said she saw you and Jughead at Pop’s yesterday.”

“That’s true, we were working on our History assignment. Now, before you get mad, our teacher paired us up, we didn’t choose.” I was relieved Polly hadn’t talked about the lunchbreak.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I never tell when I work with someone. It’s nothing big.”

“It is something big when you’re working together with the guy I told you not to hang out with. I want to know things like this.”

“Then again, it’s no big deal. But sure, if it makes you happy, from now on I’ll tell you when I’m working together with someone.” I sighed. When breakfast was done, we set everything on the table and Polly, Charles and my dad came downstairs to eat breakfast. I went back into the kitchen to eat my cracker. When I had finished, I went upstairs to get my bag and jacket. Then I went back downstairs again, yelled a bye to my family and went outside, running around the corner to find Jughead waiting for me. I jumped up and hugged him, which made him almost fall backwards. I heard him chuckle.

“Hi there, I’m happy to see you too.”

“Hi.” I breathed. After a few seconds, I let go of him.

“How did you sleep?”

“Pretty good, actually. You?”

“Quite alright. I’m glad that the night is over though.”

“For a specific reason, or are you just excited for a new day?”

“Both, actually. At night I always feel so lonely.” I sensed there was more than that, but I didn’t pry.

“Nights are pretty lonely. It’s dark, which means you can’t see the world around you. You don’t know if there’s anyone near you, if you’re really as alone as you feel.”

“Yeah, true.” We had walked a few paces when I suddenly saw his bike standing on the side of the road. 

“Jughead, why?”

“Because I was a bit late and wanted to be here in time. We can still walk though, if you really don’t want to ride it.”

“Isn’t it really heavy though?”

“Kinda, but I’ll live. So, what do you want?”

“I’ll let you bring my life in danger, I guess.”

“When you put it that way, it sounds really bad. I almost feel sorry for you.”

“Well, you should. And it is. Now give me that damn helmet.”

“Hey, if you don’t want to, we can just walk. It’s really okay.”

“No, I’m not letting you push it all the way to school.”

“I’m sorry, Betts.”

“What for?”

“For bringing it.”

“Please don’t. Stop apologizing when I’m being irrational.”

“You weren’t though. But I’ll try.” He handed me “my” helmet and got on himself, taking off his beanie and putting on his helmet. I pulled the elastic out of my hair, put on the helmet and sat down behind him. After I’d wrapped my arms around him tightly, he revved the engine and took off. Because we met early, as we were supposed to walk, we were at school about 20 minutes early. After he’d parked his bike and we’d fixed our hair, we went inside to our office.

“Now, show me your articles please. I’m curious.”

“You remembered.” I was surprised.

“Of course. You told me.”

“I know, but most of the things I tell people and people tell me is forgotten.” I sat down behind my computer and logged in, after turning it on. Then I went to my files and opened the one with my articles. I got up so he could sit down. When he sat down, he pulled me on his lap and started reading, meanwhile I played with his left hand.

“That’s quite distracting, you know.” He whispered. I chuckled, but didn’t stop. It was in fact quite distracting, as it took him 10 minutes to read an article that was less than one page long.

“Geez, Betty, this is so good. Like, personal, but yet impersonal. That sounds weird, but do you know what I mean?” I nodded. “It’s so well written, it’s clear and straight to the point. Really, really good. ‘The outside is what strangers judge us by, whereas the inside is where our friends judge us by.’ That’s so true.” He looked really impressed, which made me feel proud of myself. Instantly after that, I felt confusion; I hadn’t felt proud of myself in ages.

“Why the confusion?” He noticed everything.

“Because you made me feel proud of myself.”

“What part are you confused about? That I made you feel that or the fact that you felt like that?”

“The latter. I can’t remember the last time I felt proud of myself. Is that a bad thing?”

“I’d usually say yes, but knowing your situation, it’s still bad, but also understandable. I’m happy though that I made you feel proud of your work, you should feel that way.”

“Thanks, Juggy. Maybe this afternoon we could work on some more articles? So we’re able to make our first paper?”

“Sounds good.” He seemed like he wanted to say something else, but he kept his mouth shut.

“That sleepover this weekend, was it Friday till Saturday, or Saturday till Sunday?”

“We didn’t agree on that yet, but I hope Saturday till Sunday, as I have to work Friday night.”

“It’d be a shame if you would miss the evening. Let’s discuss this during lunch, with the whole gang.”

“Good idea. Will you meet me here again in the short break? I wanna ask you something.” I got a bit worried.

“Sure. Something wrong?”

“No, not at all. I’ll tell you in the first break.” When the bell rang, we went to class.

When the bell which indicated the first break rang, I walked towards the office, feeling very nervous. I knew Jughead had said nothing was wrong, but I still felt nervous. When I walked inside, he wasn’t there yet. I started people-watching through the window. I saw our friends sitting at our table, talking. I was so distracted that I didn’t hear Jughead coming in. Therefore, when he wrapped his arms around me, it made me jump.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He whispered in my ear. I let out a deep breath, trying to get my nerves to go away. I thought he’d probably notice, so I turned around to hug him. Before I could wrap my arms around him though, he pressed his lips against mine, which I also didn’t mind. I kissed him back and felt the nerves flooding away. When he pulled away again, I didn’t at all feel nervous anymore.

“So, I have something for you.” He said and stepped away to get a wrapped gift. I was instantly curious to see what it was. He walked back to me and handed it over. I smiled at him excitedly and started unwrapping it. Inside of it was a small, grey teddy bear, holding a red heart which said:

'Will you be my girlfriend?'

It was a little cringy, but mostly just really sweet. I swallowed audibly, looking down at the ground. I didn’t know how to respond, I was speechless because of his gesture. Instead of talking, I wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug and then kissed him again. He was taken by surprise at first, but then kissed me back. It started off innocent, but quite soon I got really excited and eager to get more than just this simple kissing. He seemed to notice, but was still a bit hesitant because of what happened last time. I tried to give him permission through body language. I pulled him even closer to me and one hand moved up into his hair, knocking his beanie to the ground. His lips slowly parted and I felt his tongue lightly tracing my bottom lip, just as last time. This time though, I didn’t freak out. Instead, my lips parted too to give him access. He instantly responded by deepening the kiss. I’d always thought that kissing someone with tongue was gross, but now that I was experiencing it, it was actually really nice. I finally understood why Veronica was always so excited about this. I didn’t want the kiss to be over, but I knew that when the bell would ring, we would have to go to class. So I enjoyed the time we did have, letting all the feelings be. When the bell did ring, we reluctantly pulled away. When I saw Jughead’s face, I wanted to kiss him all over again. He looked so happy, like he’d just won a million dollars.

“I guess that’s a yes?” He asked. I nodded frantically, still not being able to speak. I pulled him in for one last hug before our ways parted and we each went to our own class. I couldn’t stop the smile that was on my face. When I remembered my talk with Charles, I my smile grew even wider. When I sat down next to Veronica, she looked at me questioningly. I quickly showed her my gift and she put her hand in front of her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

“That’s so cute! Oh my god, my best friend is having her first boyfriend!” She shouted, but still whispering. I smiled broadly at her and then licked my lips, to indicate what also happened. Her eyes grew big.

“And? How was it? Oh my god, I can’t believe it, holy shit.” My smile was enough of an answer and I also realized I was still speechless. I hadn’t felt so happy for as long as I could remember. Veronica took out her phone and sent a text to someone, but I didn’t see who. She winked at me and then we started paying attention to the teacher, who’d already started. When class ended, Veronica pulled me aside before I could go to my next class.

“So, now tell me. How was it?”

“Amazing.” I said and tried to walk away again, but Veronica pulled me back.

“Expand on that, please.”

“No, it’s something personal and private. I’d like to keep it that way.” I winked at her.

“Come on B, please?” I shook my head.

“I gotta go to class, see you during lunch.” I said over my shoulder as I walked away. This time Veronica let me.

At lunch, I saw Reggie, Fangs, Veronica and Jughead already at our table. I smiled when I saw Jughead, and he did the same when he saw me. I sat down on his lap and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.

“Cut it with the cuteness please, I’m trying to eat my sandwich in peace.” Veronica said jokingly, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, grant me some happiness please, I deserve it.” I said, matching her tone. Jughead kissed my neck before getting out our lunch. He’d brought a burger for me too once again. 

“So are you guys official yet?” Reggie asked.

“Are you?” I replied. Veronica’s eyes started sparkling.

“Since this morning. We have the same anniversary, isn’t that awesome!” Veronica exclaimed. I looked at Jughead, worried he might not have liked me telling Veronica already. He probably saw the worry, because he said:

“I already knew, Veronica texted me. I’m glad you’re happy about it, that you instantly told Veronica. It’d actually be kinda sad if you wanted to keep it a secret or something.” He smiled and I felt relieved.

“Now that means that Charles can–” Veronica started to say, but my eyes prevented her from finished that sentence. I hadn’t yet told Jughead about what Charles had said. Now Jughead looked at me questioningly though.

“I’ll tell you this afternoon. Don’t worry, it’s good news.” Toni, Cheryl and Kevin arrived too then and sat down.

“About this sleepover we’re having at my place this weekend, when exactly is it happening? My parents are leaving Friday morning and coming back Sunday evening, so for me it doesn’t matter.” Kevin said.

“Well, I’m working Friday night, so for me Saturday-Sunday would be best.” Jughead said.

“Anyone who can’t come on Saturday?” We could all come Saturday, so it was set. “Then I’ll see you guys Saturday, around 1:00pm, after lunch? I don’t wanna spend so much time alone.” We all agreed. It was only then Cheryl noticed everyone was in high spirits.

“What’s going on here, what did I miss?” Veronica and I looked at each other.

“You and Toni aren’t the only official couple at this table anymore.” Veronica said.

“Oh my god! Who?” Instead of answering, Jughead and I smiled at each other and so did Veronica and Reggie. “That’s so cute! Oh my god, congratulations guys!” We all smiled happily. “When did this happen?”

“This morning, before school. Reggie picked me up and then asked me.” Veronica proudly said.

“Jughead gave me this during the first break.” I said, showing my teddy bear.

“Jughead, I gotta give you this. You’re quite the romantic.” Cheryl said.

“This surpasses you asking me, sorry Cher.” Toni said. Cheryl looked faked disappointed, but then agreed. We has some casual conversation during the rest of the break and when the bell rang we went to our classes.

When PE was over, I quickly changed into my regular clothes and went to the Blue & Gold office. Jughead was already there, sitting on the couch. I sat down on his lap and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

“Hey. So, what was it that you said you’d tell me this afternoon? What Veronica almost said, something to do with Charles?”

“Well, as you know, Charles has decided to be on my side again. As you know too, my mom hates you. She still doesn’t want me hanging out with you. But, the good news is that Charles offered to talk to her, to get her to accept you and us. He did have two conditions though. One, he wants to have an open conversation with you, so he knows who he’s letting into my life. Two, we needed to be official. He wasn’t gonna fight for something that wasn’t official yet. Now, I didn’t tell you this before, because I didn’t want us to get together because of this, but rather because of the fact that we actually want it, you know?”

“So there’s a big chance your mom will accept us dating?” He looked hopeful.

“Yes. After you and Charles have had your conversation, he’ll go talk to mom. She always listens to him, so it’s basically a done deal. You just have to be honest with Charles, but he’ll probably judge you the same as I did. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. But really, don’t lie about anything. If you tell Charles to keep everything a secret, you can trust him he will. And about your drug dealing past, as long as you tell him clearly that it’s over, he’ll be okay with that too.”

“It’s gonna be quite hard though, but I’ll do my best. If that’s what it’s gonna take for us to be together without your mom trying everything to split us up, then I’m willing to do it.”

“Amazing, Juggy. Thank you. I’ll ask Charles when he has time and then I’ll let you know.” He smiled and then moved his hands to cup my face.

“I’m happy to be able to call you my girlfriend from now on.” He said, and then pressed his lips against mine. I kissed him back, but after a few seconds, I pulled away again.

“Let’s get to work, I wanna publish our first paper.” I said excitedly.

“Someone’s excited.”

“Well, of course. This is something my mom will be proud of and I love doing it, so it’s a rare combination. Of course I’m excited for that.” Then there was a knock on the door.

“Who’s that?” Jughead asked and I quickly hopped off his lap and went to my computer.

“It’s Charles, can I come in?”

“Sure, come in!” I yelled, surprised to hear it was my brother. He walked inside and closed the door behind him. “What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t help but notice what happened during lunch, how happy everyone was and how many kisses were shared. I was wondering if maybe…?”

“Yeah, I was gonna talk to you about it at home, today. Jughead’s now officially my boyfriend and I told him about what you said.” I couldn’t help but smile when I said ‘boyfriend’ and ‘Jughead’ in the same sentence.

“Aw, congratulations guys! I was thinking, maybe we could talk now? Then I can talk to mom this afternoon.”

“You’re quite eager for this conversation, aren’t you?” I teased.

“Well, yeah. I like seeing my sister so happy and I would love for you to be able to be with him everywhere, without having to fear someone seeing you who’ll tell mom. I think you deserve as much.”

“Thanks, Charles. That’s sweet of you.” I gave my brother a quick hug and then turned to Jughead.

“If you’re okay with me heading off for a minute, then sure.” Jughead said.

“I’m okay with it.” I said, and then Jughead and Charles walked away to an empty classroom. Even though I knew Charles wouldn’t not accept Jughead, I was still nervous. For Charles, as long as I was happy, nothing else mattered. And nowadays Jughead wasn’t a bad person anymore. Maybe if he’d still be dealing drugs, Charles wouldn’t approve, but that wasn’t the case. I tried to come up with a few more subjects to write about and wrote one more article, before the boys returned. I got up and Jughead walked straight towards me and picked me up for a hug and a quick kiss.

“We’re good.” He whispered in my ear. I smiled at Charles gratefully and then he left, closing the door behind him.

“Did you have to spill a lot of your secrets?”

“No, actually. He was more curious about my current situation and how I saw the future. He said the past is the past and it doesn’t matter what happened years ago. People change.”

“I told you my brother wasn’t gonna be hard on you.”

“Don’t tell me you weren’t nervous at all.”

“Okay, I was. But only a little.”

“Sure. So, what have you been working on?” He said, stepping away from me to look at my computer.

“I came up with some subjects to write about and wrote one more article. I was thinking, maybe we could each write one more today?”

“Sure, sounds good. What did you come up with for me?”

“Well, I was thinking, maybe you could write something about transferring? I know you transferred quite some time ago, but I know Weatherbee will appreciate it.”

“Yeah, I’ll to that. What are you gonna write about?”

“The positive influences of a healthy school cafeteria. I was thinking I’d throw something in about food, everyone likes that.”

“Good idea. Hey, uhm, before you said that the paper was closed because of lack of interest. On whose side though? The writers or the readers?”

“Sadly, the readers. So it’s a challenge to make them interested again.”

“Pretty tough one, though, right?”

“Maybe, but nothing is impossible. Now get to work.” I said, pushing him away from my computer. We sat down and started writing. After about an hour, I was done. I looked over at Jughead, to see him still entirely focused on his computer. His tongue was sticking out a little bit, which looked absolutely adorable. I silently got up and walked around the table to his side. He was writing about the difference between transferring and helping other transfers. He was so focused, he hadn’t noticed me moving behind him. I decided it was time for revenge, for all the times he’d scared me. I quickly grabbed both his arms and carefully but quickly put them behind his back. He jumped a little, but didn’t scream.

“Was that necessary?” He asked, and I could hear some stress in his voice.

“That was revenge, so yeah, necessary.” Then he made a sudden movement with his arms, which I hadn’t expected. He was loose again and got up, turning around to face me.

“Cooper, now you’re in trouble.” He threatened. Even though I saw the playfulness in his eyes, I got a little scared. I backed away from him slowly. “You’re actually quite the coward, aren’t you?” He teased.

“No, I’m a brave warrior.” I replied. “I’m facing the same battle every day, isn’t that brave?”

“The battle of living?” He teased again.

“No, the battle of my mom.” I tried to stay serious, but the look on his face made me crack up. He took advantage of me being momentarily distracted and quickly grabbed me from behind, in one of his iron grips.

“You tried to take revenge, but with that you started a new battle. It all comes down to strength now, who’s gonna win?” He pretended to be a reporter, which made me laugh even more. When he started tickling me, I was out of breath soon.

“Please, Jughead– let me– let me go– Please, I can’t– I can’t breathe.” I tried to say in between frantic giggles. He let go of me and I turned around, trying to catch my breath. He walked forwards though, so I started walking backwards, until my back hit the wall. He put his hands on either side of my face and leaned close.

“Tell me who won.”

“I did, you surrendered and let me go.”

“Tell me who won. Tell me who’s strongest.”

“I won and I’m strongest, I made you do what I wanted you to do.”

“You’re so annoying. Who won?”

“You can keep asking the same question, but my answer ain’t gonna change.”

“I’m stronger than you though, can you at least admit that?”

“Then how would you explain the fact that you listened to what I was saying? I got you to do what I wanted you to do, you don’t even get me to say what you want me to say.” He sighed.

“I am physically stronger than you.”

“Fine, I’ll let you have that. Tell me who won.” I winked at him.

“I feel like I need to change your mind again, don’t I?”

“Nope. No, you don’t. You can be so mean, you know that. You don’t let me have my own opinion, that’s mean.” I joked.

“Well, I’d rather be mean if that’s what this is than be anything else.” He said and then pressed his lips against mine. Before our lips met, I thought I’d pretend to be the boss again and push him away. When our lips met though, all my will crumbled into dust and my hands moved to his back to pull him closer. One of his hands moved to cup my neck and the other moved to the small of my back, to pull me closer too. This time my lips were the first to part and he instantly responded. I deepened our kiss, which made him more eager. He took a small step forward, so we were as tight pressed together as was possible. Still, it wasn’t close enough. Our kiss grew very urgent and passionate, and I loved it. I got really excited and I felt he did too, but I also knew I didn’t want anything else to happen than just kissing. He probably sensed that that was how I felt, because he didn’t make another move. I was grateful for that, I would’ve hated it if I’d freak out again when we tried to do more. I knew I wasn’t quite ready for that. After a few minutes, the urgency had left and Jughead pulled away, but only to rest his forehead against mine.

“Damn Cooper, you’re a quick leaner.” He said in awe.

“I have a good teacher.” I said, a little out of breath. When he chuckled, I heard he was out of breath too. We stood there for a while, catching our breath. When my breathing was almost back to normal, my phone suddenly rang. Jughead reluctantly stepped away from me, but as I walked past him, he wrapped his arm around my waist and walked with me. I picked up my phone.

“Hello, Betty speaking.” I tried to hide the fact that I was still catching my breath a little and I thought I succeeded.

“Hey, Betty. It’s Charles. Listen, I just spoke to mom and she asks if you can bring Jughead over when you’re done working on the paper. Don’t worry, she seems to have accepted the fact that you are a thing. I told her how happy you looked and how I trust Jughead, and like we already thought, she believed me. Now she wants to see you being happy with him too, but don’t force anything. Do you think you could do that?”

“Yeah, sure. Lemme ask him first though.” I turned to Jughead. “My mom would like you to come over when we’re done working here, are you free?”

“I have to work tonight, but that’s in the evening, I start around 9. So sure, I can come over.”

“Jughead can come. We just finished here, so we’ll be home in about 15 minutes or so. See you in a bit!”

“See ya!” He hung up.

“And? What did your mom say?”

“According to Charles, she seems to have accepted you. Or, more like us. Him talking to my mom worked out just as we’d hoped.” I was happy.

“Well, then, let’s go. As you said 15 minutes, am I right to assume we’re taking my bike again?”

“Yeah. It doesn’t make sense for you to first walk from school to my house, then from my house to school again and then to wherever you’re going next.”

“The drive-in. I promise I’ll drive safely.”

“I know, you always do.” I said. We shut down the computers, closed the door and went outside, to the parking lot. As we were almost at his bike, he reached behind me and pulled out my elastic. I responded by pulling off his beanie. When we were at his bike, he put a helmet on my head and after that sat down. As he was putting on his own helmet, I climbed on behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He grabbed one of my hands and gave it a kiss. Then he let go of my hand and revved the engine. When he took off, I closed my eyes. When he stopped and I opened my eyes, I saw we were already at my house. When I kept my eyes closed the entire time, it wasn’t too bad. We climbed off and fixed our hair. Then Jughead grabbed my hand and we walked to the front door. As I was opening it, I suddenly felt nervous.

“It’ll be fine.” Jughead reassured me. I took a deep breath and we went inside. My mom was sitting in the living room, seeming to have waited for us.

“Hey mom.” I greeted her.

“Hello, Mrs. Cooper.” Jughead politely said.

“Hello, both of you. Sit down.” It was an order, but it didn’t sound like one. We sat down next to each other on the couch, Jughead was still holding one of my hands and stroking it, to help me relax.

“So, I was a bit surprised when Charles came to me when he got home. I thought I’d make it pretty clear I didn’t want you two to hang out. But, it’s no surprise that you didn’t listen to me, Betty. When Charles said though how happy you looked, I have to admit that I got a little curious. Between us, Charles said you look happier around Jughead than Polly does around Jason. So I asked myself: What’s more important, my daughter being happy or my daughter dating a guy who had a bit of a better background. I decided it was the first. I know I’m hard on you often, but I just want you to live the perfect life. I guess that also means that you should date who makes you happy, as happiness is a part of perfectness.”

“Sorry to interrupt, Mrs. Cooper, but isn’t wanting your daughter to live a perfect life something that shouldn’t be your goal? First of all, what could be “perfect” for Betty, might not be the way you see it. Secondly, you should never strive for perfection, you’ll never be able to achieve that goal. So maybe Betty’s happiness should be a goal rather than her being perfect?” My mom was a bit surprised by his words, but quickly composed herself again.

“That’s a good point. I don’t think I’ll be able to change who I am though, but I could try to focus a bit more on Betty’s happiness rather than her perfectness.”

“You know, the people that seem perfect are usually the ones with the most problems.” I said. “I think that that’s really true, so that could be another reason to stop trying to get me to live a perfect life.”

“Do you have a lot of problems?” My mom asked me. I instantly wished I’d never said anything.

“Nothing major.” I said, instead of speaking the truth. This seemed to surprise Jughead.

“I also want to apologize to you, Jughead. I was so stuck in the past, with everything that happened between me and your dad, that I’d lost view of the present. You’re not your dad and Betty’s not me. When I look at you guys now, I’m glad Charles stepped in to save this, what you have. I don’t think I’ve often seen people look at each other the way you two look at each other. I know it sounds a bit cringy, but it’s true. I’ll do my best to be a bit more open-minded when it comes to you, but know that if you hurt my daughter, I’ll come for you.” It was a real threat, but not something I was afraid of.

“I promise I’ll take good care of her, ma’am.” Jughead solemnly promised.

“Can he stay for dinner?” I asked.

“Sure.”

“I have to work though, at 9:00. If that’s not compatible with your schedule or whatever, then it’s no problem for me to eat at home.”

“We usually have dinner around 6:30, so it’s no problem at all. Feel welcome.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Cooper.” A regular mom would’ve told him to just call her by her first name, but my mom wasn’t a regular mom. For some reason, this bugged me a little, but I didn’t say anything about it. Instead, I got up and pulled Jughead upstairs with me.

“We’re gonna do some homework for tomorrow.” I told my mom. When we arrived in my room, I closed the door behind us and sat down on my bed, pulling Jughead with me.

“That wasn’t too bad, was it?”

“No, better than I expected.”

“Why didn’t you tell her about your ‘problems’ though?”

“It’s not something we talk about in our family. We only talk about the good things, bad things are to be kept to yourself and to be dealt with on your own. We all have our own stuff to deal with, we don’t want to bother anyone else with our problems on top of their own. House rule number one in the Cooper household.”

“Is that why you hate telling me about it? Because you don’t wanna bother me with it?”

“I think so. I’ve been raised to not bother others with my problems, telling you crosses that.”

“You know, I kinda relate to that. When I was younger, I always talked to my mom about everything. When she left, I was alone. I felt like I had to deal with everything on my own, which was true because my dad was always drunk. So I’m also not used to sharing my problems with someone else, it just feels wrong, you know?”

“Yeah, it does. Also, it makes me feel weak, as if I can’t deal with my own shit properly. As if I need someone.”

“The thing is though, sometimes you do need someone. I’ve taught myself that asking for help is usually something us humans write of a weak. I believe that it’s a strong thing to do though. I mean, asking for help puts you in a vulnerable position. To put yourself there, that you need strength for. Maybe if you tried to see it that way, you wouldn’t feel weak about asking help anymore.”

“You’re quite a wise person, has anyone ever told you that?”

“No one stuck around long enough to realize.” He smiled, but I saw the sadness in his eyes.

“You’re quite a broken soul, aren’t you?”

“I don’t let myself think about that, but maybe?”

“From what you’ve told me, it sounds like everyone you trusted and loved in your life so far, has either left you or let you down. Your mom, your dad, your friends.”

“Everyone except JB, who didn’t have a choice, and everyone from our group.”

“Aren’t you afraid of losing us then?”

“That’s probably why I used to not communicate with people, I didn’t want to risk losing them. When you’re left behind by everyone you care about, you lose trust in humanity quite quickly. Okay, I’m gonna be really honest with you now. I’m actually kinda afraid of us dating. I’m scared to give you the power over me that you have. I can feel that if you were to leave, I’d be completely lost and I’ll probably get really depressed. It scares me to know you have so much power over me.”

“I know exactly what you mean. Up until now, I’ve pushed everyone with whom I could’ve possible gotten a relationship with, away. It’s not many people, I think only one boy. I was afraid to give them that power over me. I also told Veronica this, and she had amazing advice, which is why I let you close. She said something like: ‘A first relationship is always the hardest. Lucky for you, it’s not his first. Don’t worry about the things too much and just enjoy the time you have together.’ Also, Kevin had a moment of wisdom too: ‘Isn’t it worth the risk of losing him though? If you keep living in fear of the ‘what-ifs’, you’re not really living. So start living.’ They really got me thinking and I found I agreed with what they said. I shouldn’t be afraid of everything, but just enjoy the present. Cheryl was the first to get me really allowing my feelings to flow freely, she said at one of our sleepovers, that you ‘were smitten with me’. That got me thinking and when I walked back into the room, you were all I could think about. Ever since that moment, I’ve started drowning in my feelings, but in a good way.”

“So I actually have all of them to thank for ‘us’. I thought it was me who got you this far, but apparently not.” He winked at me.

“Well, of course it’s you most of all. If you hadn’t been you, I wouldn’t have been dating you now. It’s good to know though that we share the same fear, it actually makes me more confident about us. If we’re both so afraid of losing each other that we almost didn’t start dating because of that in the first place, it means we must really like each other.”

“That’s true for sure, I really like you. There’s something about you that just makes me unable to leave you and I don’t know what it is.”

“That’s a good thing, because I don’t want you to leave.” He laid down on my bed and pulled me with him. We cuddled up on top of my blankets.

“Your mom is quite a complicated woman, isn’t she? Her actions are so different from her words, it’s confusing.”

“Yeah, that’s why I always struggle with it. She says she cares about me and is hard on me because she wants me to be happy, which makes me believe she actually loves me, which makes me almost forgive her for everything she’s said to me. But then when she starts yelling at me for something small, I can’t believe it’s out of love, it honestly feels like at those moments she hates me. I find it hard to cope with confusion, so I think maybe that’s why I do this.” I said, opening my hand to show the scars there.

“I can imagine it’s hard to deal with that. My dad sucks, but at least I know what I can expect. If he’d be different every day, I think that’d be worse than him being always awful.” He was looking at my opened hand. “You haven’t done that this week, have you? Your scars seem a bit older, not fresh.”

“No, I haven’t. I’ve been too happy to even consider it.” I smiled at him.

“Oh, how come?” He smirked. He knew damn well how.

“Because I’m doing well in school, what else do you think?” I said sarcastically.

“Well, good for you, I guess.” He matched my tone.

“Just kidding, I should give the thing or person who’s made me happy the credits for me being happy. It honestly was all you. Every day I was looking forward to seeing you so much, it was all I could think about. And after school, you’d filled me up with so much happiness, there was no room left for me to feel bad about anything. So thank you, I guess.”

“You’re welcome, I guess.” He replied, which made me chuckle. We laid in silence, until my mom called that dinner was ready. We got up and went downstairs. Dad and Polly were already there. Polly looked first surprised and then kind of agitated. I guess she didn’t like my mom being okay with Jughead, but I honestly didn’t care. Jughead and I sat down next to each other and then Charles and mom joined us from the kitchen, bringing the food with them.

“Mom, what’s he doing here?” Polly asked.

“Having dinner with us. That’s obvious, right?”

“Yes, but since when do we allow strangers to have dinner with us?” I really wanted to tell her to fuck off, but I kept my mouth shut, curious to hear what mom would say.

“We still don’t allow strangers to join us for dinner.”

“Then what’s he doing here?”

“He’s not a stranger to all of us, I think even you know his name.”

“But, just, what the hell? What happened?”

“He’s my boyfriend, that’s what happened.” I snapped at her. Polly’s mouth fell open.

“What? But– no– you couldn’t– you shouldn’t– what?”

“Get used to it Polls, you don’t control my life anymore.” She looked shocked, but did shut up. Jughead looked at me from the corner of his eye, slightly shocked but also impressed. I showed a small smirk.

“So, Jughead, do you work or are you just a student?” My dad asked.

“I work at the drive-in, actually. I’m saving up to be able to buy my own trailer at Sunnyside Trailer Park. That might sound a little weird, to want a trailer as a home, but I grew up living in a trailer and it speaks more to me than a big house. Also, it’s way cheaper and you can always bring your house with you, wherever you go. It’s quite practical.”

“Did you know I’ve lived in a trailer for some years too? You’re right, they’re quite practical. I prefer a big house, but I can totally see why you would prefer a trailer.” 

“You lived in a trailer too, dad? When?” I’d never heard about it before.

“Right after I’d finished high school. My parents were annoyed by me and wanted me out of the house, so they bought me a trailer. They paid rent, everything else was my own responsibility. At first, I thought they would cover for me when I ran out of money, but they made me work for it. I wasn’t used to having to do things, everything was usually done for me. I was quite a brat, until I didn’t have food for four days in a row. That makes you think, you know.”

“You never told us.” I said, surprised.

“Because it never came up.”

“Where was your trailer standing at the time?” Jughead asked, honestly curious.

“Also at Sunnyside Trailer Park. I think I actually lived next to your dad, if he still has the same trailer he does now.”

“I don’t think my dad ever had a different trailer. We did move to Washington for a few years, but life in a big city wasn’t for us.” I knew the real reason they moved back was that his dad had lost his job and couldn’t pay the rent anymore, but obviously Jughead didn’t want my parents to know.

“It does take a certain kind of person to live in a big city.” My dad said.

“For sure. We’re not that kind of people, not at all.”

“Shall we start with dinner?” My mom asked then. “It’s getting cold.” My dad started putting food on everyone’s plates and my mom grabbed my plate to put some salad on it.

“Doesn’t Betty get more than that?” Jughead asked.

“We don’t want her to become fat.” My mom simply said. 

“She won’t get fat eating a proper dinner, believe me.”

“Jug, it’s okay.” I whispered.

“No, it’s not okay. I’m not gonna–”

“Jughead, as much as I appreciate you standing up for Betty, she’s our daughter so we give what we want her to have. Now back off please.” My mom still sounded calm, but I knew that wouldn’t be for long. I squeezed Jughead’s leg to get his attention.

“Thank you, but let it go now. It’s really okay.” He sighed. When he had his food, he very swiftly put some of his potatoes on my plate. Luckily, no one noticed. I quickly ate them before anyone could and smiled at Jughead gratefully. Halfway during dinner, my phone suddenly rang.

“Can I go get it?” I asked. My mom nodded. I got up and picked up my phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, B! It’s me, V. Do you have the time?”

“Uh, yeah, real quick though. We’re having dinner and Jug’s here too, I don’t wanna leave him alone with my family too long.”

“Oh my god! Tell me about that tomorrow!”

“I will. Now, what’s the emergency?”

“Reggie asked me out on a date just now, but I don’t know what to wear. At first, I was thinking my black dress, you know, that one with the low cut neck. Then I thought maybe that’d be too soon?”

“Maybe. What’s your other option?”

“I was thinking the purple one, but that skirt is so short.”

“Any other options?”

“Yes, but no dresses. Well, that one I already bought for prom, but I’m obviously not gonna wear that one.”

“Maybe the purple dress with long boots? Those amazing black boots you have, that go up all the way to your knee.”

“Oh my god, B, you’re my saving angle. Thank you!”

“You’re welcome. Have fun tonight!”

“Thanks, you too!” I hung up and went back into the living room, where everyone fell silent when I walked in.

“What’s going on? Why’s everyone quiet?”

“No reason. Who was it?” My mom asked.

“Veronica, she had a clothing emergency.”

“Is it solved?”

“Of course.”

“What was the occasion?” Polly asked.

“She’s going on a date with her boyfriend tonight.”

“Who?” 

“Reggie Mantle. One of the transfers from Southside High.” I added that so she could get pissed over that.

“She’s dating a Southside scumbag? I thought she’d have better taste, to be honest.”

“Well, this “scumbag” happens to be pretty good looking. And he’s strong, so I’d watch your words if I were you.” I smiled at her.

“I’d watch your back, Jughead, before she runs off with her best friends’ boyfriend again. Weren’t you dating Veronica first too? It could become a tradition.” She said, defiant. Then Jughead snapped.

“This proves you all know nothing about love! None of you have ever learnt how to express it and what it is. For fuck sake, be happy with the fact you still have each other! There’s millions of people around the world who have lost their loved ones, who would do anything to get them back. You have each other, but treat each other like dirt. If y’all would stop being mean to one another, everything will become so much brighter! Appreciate and value each other, as long as you still have each other. Before you know it, it’s all gone. And then we all feel sorry.” He got up and stormed outside. Everyone was shocked to silence. Then I got up and went after him, finding him sitting on our front steps. I sat down next to him and put my arm around him. “I fucked up, didn’t I? You and Charles have worked so hard to get me accepted by your mom and I screw up the first time I’m having dinner at your place. I’m so, so sorry, Betty. I don’t know what got into me.”

“Don’t apologize. To be honest, I’m glad that you said it. Also, I’m proud of you that you said it. Everyone was shocked, but not in a bad way, I think. I hope they will all think about your speech a few times, it’d be great if it made a difference. It might’ve come a bit unexpected, but I don’t think you’ve ruined your reputation already. I think my mom will actually be quite impressed that you dared to speak up like that. I could also see in her eyes she appreciated you standing up for me, even though she didn’t act like it. She has never had a strong man in her life, but it’s all she’s ever wanted. You showed that you’re strong, I think she’ll actually appreciate it. I know Charles for sure will. Polly probably hates you even more, but I wouldn’t worry about that. And my dad probably doesn’t care, he never does. So relax, I think you did well.”

“For real?”

“Yes. You stand for what you believe in, my mom will definitely appreciate that. We do have to go back inside though, my mom won’t like it if you leave now.” I stood up and offered him my hand. He took and got up too. I didn’t let go of his hand as we walked back inside. When we were back in the living room, Jughead apologized.

“I’m sorry for saying what I just said and then storming off. I shouldn’t have.”

“I actually quite liked your speech. It makes me think about what we’re doing. I also like it when someone has a strong opinion and is not afraid to share it. It did come a bit unexpected and was maybe a bit too much, but it’s okay.” My mom reacted exactly as I thought she would. She was impressed. Jughead and I sat back down and finished our dinner.

“I saw a motorcycle standing out front. Is that yours, Jughead?” Charles asked.

“Yeah, it is.”

“Awesome. What brand?”

“A Honda.”

“Cool.”

“Do you ride too?”

“I wish, but mom thinks it’s too dangerous.”

“That’s where your fear comes from, then.” Jughead said, smirking at me.

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” I said.

“Wait, Betty, you don’t ride it, do you?”

“Only in case of emergency. I prefer not to.” I knew it wouldn’t make sense to lie about it.

“Jughead, if you get her injured because of that bike, the bills are yours. Is that understood?”

“Yes ma’am.” I was surprised my mom would just sort of accept it, I’d expected another lecture on how dangerous it was and how I shouldn’t be riding it, not ever.

“Mom, shall Jughead and I get desert?”

“Yes please, it’s in the fridge.” I got up and Jughead walked with me to the kitchen.

“Do you guys always eat desert?”

“Most of the time, yes. You’ll love it, it’s probably pie.” He smiled widely. I pulled him in for a hug.

“I’m surprised my mom didn’t instantly kick you out because of your bike, that’s what she’d usually do.”

“I’m glad she didn’t kick me out.”

“Me too, but mostly surprised.”

“Everyone can always surprise you.”

“I’m challenging you to surprise me right now.” I was hoping he’d kiss me, as a way to surprise me.

“You know, I actually think I don’t want pie.” I looked at him super confused and he burst out laughing. After a few seconds, I understood why he’d said it and I felt really dumb.

“That wasn’t was I was expecting.”

“That’s usually the point if you want to surprise someone, isn’t it? So I guess I successfully surprised you.” He said triumphantly.

“I hate to admit it, but you did surprise me. Mostly though because I was expecting you to do something else.” I bit my lip as a small hint, which he of course noticed.

“I’d love to, but we should probably get the pie to the living room, before they come check on us.” He chuckled. I opened the fridge and there was indeed a pie. I got it out and gave it to Jughead.

“I always drop it.” I explained. We walked back into the living room.

“Couldn’t you find the fridge?” Charles joked.

“That’s why I was laughing, because Betty was searching for the fridge in her own house.”

“I wish you would’ve filmed it.” Charles laughed. Jughead then put the pie on the table and dad gave everyone a piece. Because Jughead looked at him warningly, I got a piece too. It was delicious and I was sad when I’d finished it. I must’ve looked a bit sad, because Jughead gave me his last bite. That made me feel so incredibly special, because I knew how much Jughead loved food. Him giving me his last bite honestly made me a bit emotional, I wasn’t used to people sharing something they absolutely loved with me. We cleaned the table together when everyone was done and then Jughead said goodbye, because he was going to work. I walked him outside.

“That was quite nice in the end.”

“Thank you, for everything. I’m more grateful than I could ever put to words. You made tonight really special.” I stepped towards him and up on my tiptoes to press my lips against his. He instantly wrapped his arms around me and kissed me back. Then he let go of me.

“I really have to go now, sorry. I’ll see you tomorrow again?”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow!” Then he turned around, got on his bike and drove off. I went back inside, straight to my room. I didn’t want to talk about tonight, afraid something might be said that would ruin this. I did a little bit of homework and then got ready for bed. I checked my phone, but I didn’t have any more messages. I read a little and then went to sleep, falling asleep peacefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not posting in such a long time, I'm really busy with school and that's quite stressful. We did pass 1000 hits, for which I wanna thank you all. Thank you for reading my story :)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unexpected, romantic date? Hell yes.

The morning was the same as usual. When I went outside, Jughead was waiting for me in front of my house, rather than around the corner. I got very happy seeing that, as it meant it was okay for him to be seen by my family. Luckily, he didn’t bring his bike. We hugged and then started walking to school.

“Did anything happen last night after I left, or was it all good?”

“I went upstairs right after you left, so I don’t know. I don’t think there was anything though, my mom would’ve probably come up to my room if there was something. I’m so relieved it all ended well.”

“Me too. It’s also quite nice not having to kinda secretly hang out, you know. That I can just come to your house whenever, basically.”

“I like that too. Nothing would’ve stopped me from hanging out with you, but it’s still nice that we now have “permission”.”

“Yeah. So I was thinking, what are you doing Saturday morning, before the sleepover?”

“Nothing yet. Why?”

“I was thinking, maybe we could go do another photoshoot? I came across this beautiful place in the woods recently and I could just picture you there.”

“Why do you never ask someone pretty? I mean, I know you’re gonna say that I’m pretty, but really. There’s way more beautiful girls around, why do you never shoot them?”

“I’m not the only one who thinks you’re pretty though. I really hope you don’t mind, but I posted a few photos of our shoot on my Instagram, the one for my photography. All your photos got the most likes and the most comments, all positive. Most of them were saying how beautiful you are. I’ll show you later.”

“I don’t mind. Really though? I can’t imagine.”

“It’s true, believe me. You really barely have any self-confidence, do you? You honestly are beautiful, Betts.” He grabbed and squeezed my hand when he said that. I blushed and looked down. “I mean it.” He added.

“Thank you.” I whispered.

“You’re welcome.” We walked in silence for a while. When we arrived at school, Veronica basically attacked us with a hug.

“Oh my god, Betty, I’ve been waiting for ages! How did dinner go?”

“It was pretty good, actually. We’re accepted by my mom, which is a relief. How was your date?”

“It was amazing. Reggie’s such a gentleman, it’s adorable. I was a bit nervous at first, but when we arrived at our restaurant, he held my hand and all the nerves went away. The food was delicious and then he took me to the drive-in, which was so romantic. It was my best date ever.”

“Yeah, I liked yesterday’s movie too.” Jughead said, winking at me. I giggled, but Veronica didn’t seem to notice.

“Did you guys go too?”

“No, he left me to go watch it himself. Really disappointing.” Veronica looked at him disbelievingly.

“No way, you didn’t.”

“Of course not. I worked yesterday, so I was taking care of the movie.” Jughead chuckled.

“Oh, right, of course. I totally didn’t think of that. Did you pick it yourself or does someone tell you what you have to play?”

“I picked this one myself.”

“Great choice! It was a fantastic movie.”

“Thanks, at least I have good taste for something.” He joked, poking me in the ribs.

“Ouch, thanks.” I said, sarcastically. Then the bell rang and we went to class together.

“Hello everyone. Today we’re watching a movie, so sit back and enjoy.” The teacher said. I was sitting in the back of the class with Jughead, so when the lights turned off, I shove my chair closer to his and rested my head on his shoulder. He put his arm around me. It was a movie about the Roman Empire, which made no sense because we were learning about the Middle Ages. It was quite interesting though, but I had to admit I was a bit distracted throughout the movie because Jughead’s fingers were tracing circles on my side. When the bell was almost about to ring, the teacher paused the movie and turned on the lights. I quickly sat up straight again.

“To prove you were paying attention, I’m going to ask someone to tell us what happened in the part we watched.” I hoped badly he wouldn’t ask me, as I had no idea. “Thomas, maybe?” I breathed out a low sigh of relief and heard Jughead chuckle beside me.

“Didn’t pay attention, Cooper?” He teased.

“I tried, but someone was distracting me quite a bit.” I whispered back.

“I know I should apologize, but I’m not going to. I enjoyed it way too much.”

“I enjoyed it too though. Weren’t you distracted at all, then?”

“Maybe a little.”

“Betty, Jughead, please pay attention.” The teacher called out. Just when Thomas was finished talking, the bell rang and we went to our next class.

During the first break, we sat down with all of us (being Cheryl, Toni, Kevin, Fangs, Reggie, Veronica, Jughead and me) at our usual table. I suddenly remembered something.

“Hey, V. We agreed to meet up Friday after school, right before the sleepover. Now the sleepover is moved to Saturday, shall we still hang out Friday though?”

“Yeah, or maybe Saturday?”

“Saturday I have other plans.” I said, looking at Jughead.

“What are you gonna do?”

“Another photoshoot. But we’ll hang out Friday?”

“That’d be great. Friday’s tomorrow though, right?”

“Oh, right, yes.” We all talked a bit before the bell rang and we had another class.

At lunch, as I was walking towards our table, someone suddenly pulled on my arm. I recognized the grip.

“Hey, Jug. What’s up? Where are we going?”

“Blue & Gold.” He didn’t say anything else. The second we were inside, he closed the door and started kissing me. I was surprised at first, but quite quickly I was kissing him back. After about half a minute, he pulled away again.

“Sorry, I just had to for a second.”

“I don’t mind. Although it was a bit random. Why’d you bring me here?”

“Because I want to show you something and I also wanted to kiss you, so I thought here would be the best place to go.” He sat down on the couch and patted on the spot next to him. I sat down too. Then he unlocked his phone and opened Instagram.

“Ah, you’re showing me your page.” He nodded. He logged in and I couldn’t help but ask: “Why aren’t you logged in yet?”

“Just a habit, I guess. People used to break in on my phone and do weird stuff, this way they can’t. I know it’s not necessary anymore, but it’s become a habit.” When he was logged in, he went to his own page and handed me his phone. I started scrolling through the photos. Every single one of them was beautiful, but as he’d said before, the ones of me (which were six) had the most likes by far. I started reading the comments, which made me blush. They were all so positive, literally all of them said something about my ‘beauty’ and it made me a bit self-conscious but also happy.

“I told you the ones of you were the best.”

“I never said I didn’t believe you.”

“You didn’t say it, but I could see it in your eyes. Don’t lie to me, Cooper.”

“Sorry. All of your photos are beautiful, by the way. They should all get many likes.”

“Thanks. It’s not how that works though, people usually only like a photo if there’s either a human or an animal in it. I don’t usually photograph them though, you’re an exception.”

“I feel honoured.” I kissed him on his cheek.

“I like photographing you though. I don’t know exactly why, but I do.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” We smiled at each other.

“I’m sorry by the way, that I never tagged you in any of your photos. I didn’t know your Instagram.”

“That’s because I don’t have one.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t see a reason too. People always post only about all the good things, and when you post about a bad thing, people usually don’t care. It’s all so fake. No offense, though.”

“None taken. I get your point. Don’t you want an account for your close friends though? Just a small one?”

“I don’t see a reason why.”

“Maybe only so I can tag you?”

“That’s weird, but also cute.”

“I just want people to know who this beautiful girl is.” He winked at me.

“Well, fine. If you’ll help me.”

“Right now?”

“Sure. So, what do I do?”

“Download the app, obviously.” So I did. We waited in silence until it was done. “Now, fill in your email address. Don’t worry, they’re not gonna do stuff with it or something. Then fill in your name and choose a password.” I did, but didn’t tell him my password, obviously. I picked 'ThanksJuggy' to honour him in making this account. As profile picture, I picked one of the photos he’d taken of me, the one he loved most. When my account was ready, he showed me how to change my biography. I changed it into: ‘Thank Jughead for this, he made me.’ with no emoji’s whatsoever.

“Great text, thanks.” He chuckled.

“I’m not so creative, you know.”

“I do like your profile picture though.”

“I know you do.” Then he suddenly took my phone from me.

“Don’t try to steal it back, you know you’ll lose and I’m only gonna put it on private and make you follow everyone from our group, including Archie.”

“Fine, but you could’ve asked first.”

“True, but this is more fun.”

“Of course it is.” When he was done, he gave me my phone back. I was now following 8 people, all my friends. I saw he’d also made a post. I clicked on it. It was the same photo as my profile picture, with the caption:

'My lovely girlfriend. Took this shot of her a few weeks after we met. Now I made her create this account, so I could give her credits in my posts. She deserves it <3'

“Thank you, Juggy.” I said, after reading it.

“You’re welcome.” He put his arm around me.

“Now, what else can I do with this?” I asked. Jughead showed me how it all worked and I felt really stupid for not knowing. He told me multiple times it wasn’t stupid, that you can’t know how something works when you’ve never used it before. As he was almost done explaining things, I got a DM. He showed me how to open it. It was from Veronica.

'Get your butt over here and tell me why you suddenly have Insta without telling me first!'

“I guess we should head outside again.” I said.

“Yeah, before she comes to find us.” We laughed and then got up to walk outside. We sat down at our table.

“B, since when do you have this account and why didn’t you tell me about it sooner?” Veronica asked, playing mad.

“Relax, V. I just created it, you were one of the first to know.”

“Oh, then it’s okay. That photo you posted is beautiful, by the way!”

“Thanks. I didn’t post it though, it was Jug.”

“I know, but it was still beautiful.”

“Thanks. You should tell Jughead too though, he was the photographer after all.”

“You took an amazing shot of my best friend.” She told Jughead.

“Thanks.” Jughead had started eating his burger. He’d put my sandwich on the table, which I started eating too. Then I turned my head to say something to Jughead.

“I wanna follow your photography account too, can you do that?”

“Sure. Give me your phone.” I handed him my phone and he made me follow his account, @j.jonesviewoftheworld.

“I like your handle.” I said.

“Thanks. I didn’t want something regular, so I thought I’d do this.”

“I like it. As you intended it to be, it’s different.” He gave me my phone back and I scrolled through his posts again, liking it all. He smiled when he saw what I was doing.

“You guys really are the cutest, sorry for saying it.” Veronica suddenly said. We both looked up and I blushed. “You’re making me feel like a third wheel, even though I have my own man right here.” She laughed. Reggie poked her in the ribs.

“Should I take that as an offense?”

“No, they should. Or not. I don’t know.” We all laughed at that.

“Hey guys, one thing about this sleepover this weekend. Now that we’re basically all dating, I want to make a rule. No one is gonna have sex, that’s too awkward for the rest of us.” Cheryl suddenly said, which made us all burst out laughing again. “I’m serious!” She said.

“Fine, Cher, we for sure won’t.” I said.

“Neither will we.” Fangs agreed.

“We might though.” Veronica said. Cheryl looked at her with shocked eyes. “Just kidding, of course we won’t. It’d be too awkward if anyone would hear.” Cheryl looked relieved.

“Were you honestly worried someone might do that?” I asked.

“Kinda, yeah. Not with you though, I know you won’t. Kevin and Fangs neither, but I didn’t want to give just one specific couple this rule. I thought we should all keep it.” She winked at Veronica and Reggie while saying this.

“I feel offended.” Veronica joked, which made us all laugh.

“I do feel like we’re most likely to though.” Reggie said, making us laugh even more.

“Cheryl and Toni too though, they’ve been together longer than all of us together.” Veronica said.

“True.” Cheryl and Toni said in sync. We talked a bit more and when the bell rang we all went to class.

After school, I had cheerleading practice. We practiced the new choreo we’d been working on last Tuesday with the whole group, and even though it was far from perfect, it already looked amazing. Cheryl was satisfied for once too, usually she always wanted us to do better. Today she was in a better mood, so we were allowed to leave before we’d even done the whole choreo. She wasn’t a bad kind of strict, but she was strict. I appreciated the discipline, and I knew a lot of the other girls did too. When I had changed back into my regular clothes, I walked home. When I checked my phone, I had a message from Jughead.

'Pop’s tonight? Around 8:00pm?'

'I’ll have to ask mom, sorry. I’d love to though'

I first did my homework and then went downstairs to ask my mom.

“Hey mom, how was your day?”

“It was alright, nothing special.”

“I was wondering if I could go to Pop’s tonight with Jughead?”

“As a date?”

“I don’t know.”

“What time?”

“At 8pm.”

“Fine, but be home before 10.”

“I will, thanks mom.” I went upstairs again and instantly texted Jughead.

'Mom says I’m allowed to go. She also asked if this was a date? Anyway, I have to be home before 10 though, but that’s ok'

I decided to change into something a little bit more fancy than my usual clothes. I chose a low cut sweater, of which the bottom was a bit skew; the left side was higher up than the right side. With it I picked a short, black skirt. The sweater was baby blue. I didn’t put it on though, as I still had to have dinner. When I’d picked out my outfit, I checked my phone. I had a text from Jughead.

'It’s a date, if you’re ok with that?'

'Sure, I’m excited'

'Me too. I’ll come pick you up at 7:30 then, is that ok?'

'Sure, I’ll be waiting'

Right after that, I called Veronica, who picked up first ring.

“Hey, B! What’s up?”

“I’m going on my first date tonight!” I yelled into the phone.

“Oh my god, that’s awesome! Where?”

“Just to Pop’s, but I’m glad we are. Two big, new things in one night would be too much.”

“Jughead said you’re going to Pop’s?”

“Yes. Why that tone?” She sounded disbelieving.

“A date to Pop’s? I don’t think so, Betty. It’s probably a surprise something.”

“No, it’s not. He really said Pop’s.”

“Fine, believe what you want to. What are you gonna wear?”

“That blue sweater, with the skew bottom, combined with my black skirt.”

“Damn, Cooper. He’s not gonna be able to keep his hands off of you.”

“Of course he is!”

“He won’t touch you like that, no. But only because he knows you won’t appreciate that yet. His body will want to, trust me.”

“That sounds gross, but sure.”

“You’re such a little girl when it comes to dating, it’s cute.”

“Thanks?”

“No, it wasn’t a compliment. Not a bad thing either though. Hey, have fun tonight!”

“Thanks.” We hung up and I went downstairs to have dinner.

“You going on a date?” Polly asked.

“Yes.” I said, not bothering to elaborate, since she probably didn’t even care. I was right, because she didn’t ask any further. Instead, she looked real grumpy. When we were done with dinner, it was already 7:10, so I quickly excused myself and went upstairs to get ready. I changed into the clothes I’d picked earlier and then pulled the elastic out of my hair. I brushed it a little and then put on a little lip-gloss and some extra mascara. Not too much of both though, as I didn’t really think make-up was making me prettier. It was just for the thought. When I was done, I went downstairs again. My mom looked me up and down appreciatively, which made me feel confident.

“You look quite good, Betty.” She said.

“Thanks mom.” I smiled. Then the doorbell rang. I looked at the clock, but it was only 7:20. When I opened the door though, it was Jughead. He looked me up and down, just as my mom had.

“You’re early.” I said.

“Yeah, sorry. Are you ready? Not that you don’t look ready, you look beautiful. But I just meant–”

“I’m ready.” I interrupted him. “Thanks, by the way.” He was just wearing his regular clothes, only his sherpa was black now, which made it look just a little fancier. I said bye to my mom and then I went outside, closing the door behind me. I grabbed his hand, just as he started speaking.

“You really look beautiful, Betts. I like your hair loose.” He said, running his free hand through my hair once, which felt amazing.

“Thanks.”

“Would you be okay with it if we didn’t go to Pop’s?” He asked. Veronica was right after all.

“Sure. What did you have in mind?” It was already getting dark, so it couldn’t be something outside. At least, that’s what I thought.

“I was thinking we could go to a meadow I found, quite close to the forest edge. I put up a picnic spot there.”

“That sounds amazing, let’s do it!” It was so thoughtful of him, that it made my heart swell. He was the best. He led the way into the forest, a mile or so from my house. After about a 10 minute walk through the forest, we arrived in a meadow, which was brightly lit by the moon. In the middle was a blanket with a picnic basket on it. I gasped at the sight of it.

“This is so beautiful, Juggy. I can’t believe you did this for me!”

“You’re welcome. You deserve it, though.”

“It’s amazing. Wow, it makes me so happy that you did all this for me, like, I don’t even know how to thank you properly.”

“As long as you’re happy, that’s enough reward for me.” He squeezed my hand and pulled me down onto the blanket. “I packed you one sandwich and I also baked cookies. This time, I did really bake them.” He laughed and I joined. “I also brought apple juice, is that okay?”

“Yes, that’s totally fine.” He opened the picnic basket and I saw a burger (for him), a sandwich (for me) and a lot of different cookies. Two plastic cups for the apple juice, which was in a carton. He also pulled out one candle and lit it, putting it on the blanket somewhere stable. He set a bottle of water next to it.

“In case it does fall or something.” He explained. It was so cute and romantic and perfect, that I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

“This truly is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I love it, Juggy.”

“I’m glad you do.” He smiled and handed me my sandwich. “I didn’t pack much, as I thought you wouldn’t be so hungry as you just had dinner.”

“Good thinking. One sandwich and some cookies are welcome though.” I ate my sandwich as he ate his burger. “Did you come up with this idea all on your own?”

“Of course, what makes you think I might not have?”

“Because it’s so thoughtful and I didn’t think guys like that still existed. What would you’ve done though if I’d said I didn’t want to go anywhere else than Pop’s?”

“I wouldn’t have said anything in that moment, but I would’ve been sad afterwards. I mean, I did prepare it all.”

“I would’ve hated myself if I’d missed this. It’s perfect.” He smiled.

“To be honest, I was kinda surprised your mom let you go. I’d expected her to tell you no because it’s a school night.”

“That’s why I got a curfew. I’m surprised too though, she usually isn’t this tolerant. I guess she’s really trying, which is nice.”

“That’s good. Maybe, one day you’ll get to meet my father. If he stops being drunk all the time.”

“I’d like that. I understand why I haven’t met him yet though, and that’s fine.”

“He’s just not really a great person to be around now. Speaking of dads, yours is pretty quiet, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he’s like my mom’s puppet. I’ve never even heard them fight, he just always does what she asks.”

“Easy, but also a bit weird.”

“Yeah, it’s what I’m used to though. If I’d come back home and they were fighting, I’d instantly run away again. That’d mean something horrible happened.”

“So them fighting would be like red flashing alarm bells?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Have you ever been in a fight with someone?”

“My mom pretty often, but you already knew that. Dad and I never fight, neither do Charles and I. Polly and I rarely talk, but it’s obvious she doesn’t approve of what I do, but I don’t care. Veronica and I once had a fight, a pretty big one actually. I’d given her two tickets for a spa day, which I meant for her and myself. But she took Cheryl and I felt really offended. I think I was mad at her for a little over a month, then we made up. Not many other fights though, not that I can think of. You? I mean, besides the ones you already told me about.”

“Not really, actually. I grew up in a family where we didn’t talk about feelings, so everything was kept inside. Of course I’ve had my fights at school, but you know about them. Not having fights at home was actually quite nice, but keeping everything bottled up inside was not a way to go. I think I’d rather have fights than have everything bottled up inside. Actually, now that I think about it, my sister and I used to have quite some fights, but always about little things. Just brother-sister stuff.”

“Do you know where your mom and sister moved to?”

“When my mom left, she said she was going to Toledo. I don’t know if it’s still where they live though, my mom doesn’t like staying in one place too long.”

“Do you wish to still be in touch with them?”

“With my sister, yes. I mean, she didn’t choose anything and I still love her because she’s my sister. I don’t wanna see or talk to my mom ever again though. She hurt me in the worst way possible, she left and deliberately chose to leave me behind, with my drunk dad. It was the harshest way of telling me she didn’t at all care about me, the worst way to tell me I didn’t matter to her. She left me to fend for myself, I’ll never forgive her for that. Not in a thousand years. She’s hurt me in the worst way possible and now there’s no way back.” I felt sorry for him, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if my mom would take Charles and Polly and would go away. I’d be broken. Jughead obviously was too. I shifted position, so I was sitting next to him and wrapped my arms around him.

“I’m sorry, Jug. You don’t deserve it, none of it. I promise I’ll never leave you, at least not like that.”

“I know.” When I sat up straight again, he reached behind me for something I didn’t see. “Do you want a cookie?” He asked.

“Sure, what flavours do you have?”

“Pick one and let yourself be surprised. I’m sure you’ll like all of them.” I picked a heart shaped one with something pink in the middle. “I knew you’d pick that one first.” He chuckled.

“Am I that predictable?”

“Sometimes. Most of the times not though, you’re usually an enigma.”

“In a good or a bad way?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m here though, right? So which do you think?”

“Good?” He nodded.

“I like girls who don’t give everything away so easily and girls that have a personality, girls that have more under the skin than what’s visible from the outside.”

“Barely anyone really knows me. I’m pretty good at faking, I recently realized.”

“You can’t fool me though, I’ve gotten to know you and I’ve become pretty good at reading you.”

“I’ve noticed. You always notice everything, even the littlest things I didn’t even consciously do, like for example putting on a long sleeved shirt. You always instantly notice.”

“I pay attention to you, that’s why. I don’t notice everything with everyone though, just the people I care about.”

“You care about me?”

“You’re still asking that, even after I did all of this?”

“No, I know you do. I just want to hear you say it.” I blushed.

“Betty Cooper, of course I care about you. How could I not?” My blush deepened, which he also noticed. He put his hand against my cheek. “I didn’t know blushing also made your cheeks heat up.” He said, surprised.

“Of course they do, the red comes from the blood and blood is warm. But your hand is also a little cold.” He instantly pulled his hand back. “No, don’t. It felt nice.” He put his hand back.

“You’ve never before had a boyfriend, right?”

“Nope, you’re my first. My first everything, actually. First boyfriend, first kiss, both kisses, first date, first bed-sharing. I hope my other firsts will also be with you.” I blushed again as I realized which first I was talking about mostly. “Not that I want that to happen soon, I just meant like some time.” He chuckled.

“Relax, Betts. I won’t be trying to have sex with you any time soon, I know you’re not quite ready for it and it’s not all I care about. If you don’t wanna have sex for another ten years, then that’s fine. I’ll wait for you.” He said, stroking his thumb along my cheekbone. I was both surprised and comfortable with the way he used the word ‘sex’ so casually. I always thought it was stupid of us humans to pretend it’s something gross, when most of us will be doing it one day. I didn’t talk about it openly though, as I was taught to behave just like the rest.

“You might have to be that patient, though. I’m still in that stage where I think it’s something gross. Like, I know it’s normal, but right now I think it’s gross. I can’t picture myself doing it either.”

“You also don’t want to, believe me. It’s one of those things that always seems gross, but when you’re in the moment, it’s the best. Just like French kissing.”

“You’re right. I quite recently said to Veronica I found it gross to even think about. A little while later, I had my first French kiss with you and it wasn’t gross at all, thankfully.”

“I’ll just pretend you gave me a compliment, so thank you.” We laughed.

“Veronica did tell me you’re a good kisser.”

“That’s nice to hear, I guess.”

“Have you had many girlfriends?”

“I think maybe three? When I was with the Southside Serpents, I think I dated two girls. Not at the same time though, obviously. It felt more forced though than voluntarily, like I was supposed to, you know? Veronica was my first, kinda voluntary girlfriend. It sounds so weird, but I don’t know how else to call it.”

“Are you still a virgin?” I hated myself for asking it, as it meant I cared. I was really curious though. This time it was his turn to blush.

“Gang life’s a weird life.” Was his answer, but I knew what it meant. I nodded pensively, which made him laugh. I was a little disappointed, as it would’ve been nice if it would be the first time for us both, but I also didn’t mind. It meant that if we were to ever have sex, he’d kind of know what to do, which might be good.

“So, that spot you’re taking me coming Saturday, what’s it like?”

“Smooth subject change, Betts. It’s not in the forest, for once. Oh well, actually it is. But it’s not like a natural place. You’ll see, I want it to be a surprise.”

“I hate surprises.”

“You do? You handled this one pretty good.”

“Because it’s with you. I trust you.”

“But the shoot is also with me, so I don’t see the problem.”

“Right, uhm… I just wanna know this.”

“Sorry, you’ll have to wait.” He smirked.

“Isn’t there anything I can do make you tell me?”

“Make me tell you? That sounds dangerous. Maybe you could try to convince me?” He was obviously hinting, and I took the hint. I climbed on his lap and pressed my lips against his. His hands instantly moved into my hair and my hands were on his cheeks. When our lips met, a fire-like feeling flowed through my body and I was eager to get as much from him as I could. I parted my lips and he instantly responded and I felt his tongue darting out. I welcomed him and our kiss deepened. He softly tugged my hair, which made me moan. I slowly started pushing him back, so he was laying down, me on top of him. I felt him being surprised for a second, but then his full attention was with kissing me again. One of his hands moved down along my back and stopped at the small of my back, pulling me closer to him. At one point, he rolled over so he was now hovering me. That sent a thrill through my entire body. I felt kind of locked, but in a good way, in a way that made me even more excited. He was leaning on his forearms, so his weight didn’t press to heavy on me. My hands had moved into his hair now, which was super soft, like velvet. After some time, he rolled off of me, so we could catch our breath. I was actually a little lightheaded and he was breathing loudly too.

“Please?” I begged him then, out of breath.

“What?” He was honestly confused, which reminded me of earlier that day.

“Do you find me distracting?”

“That’s not what you meant.”

“No, but please answer.”

“Sometimes.” I giggled.

“Now, will you please tell me? Where we’re going?”

“You tried really well to convince me, but no. It’s still a surprise.” He smirked and I pushed him away.

“You’re mean.”

“I know.” We laughed.

“Do you have more cookies?” I asked him.

“Yes, two left. I ate the rest, sorry.” He offered me a cookie and ate the other one himself.

“I honestly don’t understand how you can look as good as you do and eat as much as you do, it’s unbelievable.”

“I’m a special species. Mother Nature’s very own miracle.”

“You’re a miracle for sure.”

“Thanks. By the way, did I mention you look beautiful?”

“Only ten times already, but thank you.” I smiled.

“You really are. Not just now, although I do really like your clothes. But you’re a gorgeous woman, you should know that.” I blushed a deep red.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Can I tell you something weird?”

“Sure.”

“Before I first met you, I’ve had the same dream five nights in a row. It was always interrupted at the same time by my alarm. In my dream though, it was you who I saw. The first time I saw you in real life, I was shocked. You were the boy from my dream, but I had no idea who you were and why you were in my dreams. When you got together with Veronica, I got even more confused. In my dream we didn’t seem to be friends, I got the feeling you were my boyfriend. Crazy, huh?”

“Yeah, pretty crazy. But maybe your unconscious mind knew we’d get together some day.”

“I think it must have, even though it’s unbelievable.”

“Has the exact situation of your dream already happened?”

“Nope. Don’t bother asking what it was, I’m not gonna tell you.”

“I wasn’t planning on asking, as I want to know if it will happen like you dreamt. If I know what you dreamt, it’ll for sure happen because I’d want your dream to be true.”

“That’s also exactly why I’m not gonna tell you.” I winked at him. I quickly looked at my phone for the time and instantly became stressed. “Juggy, it’s 9:30… I have to go home, sadly enough. I wish this moment didn’t have to end.” I pouted. He got up and quickly packed everything into the picnic basket. Then he helped me up and we walked hand in hand out of the forest.

“Are you afraid of the dark?” He asked me.

“Sometimes. As a kid I used to be terrified of the dark, now I usually don’t mind anymore. In my own house though, I’m still scared when it’s dark, especially when I’m home alone. I don’t know why, maybe it has something to do with the fact that someone broke into our house five years ago. Nothing happened and nothing was stolen, but I did hear someone downstairs, which terrified me at the time.”

“It could’ve become a little trauma.”

“It’s a possible explanation. I don’t know why for sure though. Walking through town in the dark doesn’t scare me, it actually makes me feel safe. No one can see me, I feel like I’m alone on the world, which is peaceful. I usually don’t like the forest at night though.”

“Are you afraid now?”

“I’m surviving, cause you’re here with me.” We smiled at each other. When we were out of the forest, he quickened his pace.

“I don’t want momma Coop to be mad at you for breaking curfew.” He explained. We speed walked to my house and made it there five minutes before ten o’clock. I turned to him and gave him a quick kiss on his lips.

“Thank you for tonight, Juggy. It was perfect.” I smiled at him.

“You’re welcome, Betts. I’ll see you tomorrow again.” He said, gave me one more kiss and then turned around to go home. Or, in his case, to the drive-in. I went inside, where my mom was waiting for me.

“I’m not too late.” I defended myself.

“How was your date?”

“It was great, really romantic.”

“Romantic? At Pop’s?”

“No, we didn’t go to Pop’s. He’d prepared a small picnic in a clearing in the woods.”

“In the woods, at night?”

“Yes. Don’t worry, it wasn’t far into the woods.”

“You’re home safe, so it’s okay.”

“Mom, please believe me when I say Jughead will protect me and keep me safe, because he will.”

“Fine. Goodnight, Elizabeth.”

“Goodnight, mom.” I went upstairs and changed into my pyjamas. I texted Jughead and Veronica before I went to sleep.

'Tonight was amazing, thanks again Juggy. I can’t thank you enough'

'Our date wasn’t at Pop’s indeed'

I didn’t wait for their replies, I went to sleep because I was tired. I slept peacefully that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that I haven't posted in forever, I've been really busy with school and I'm struggling a lot mentally. I don't know when I'll post the next chapter, but I promise that one day I will have posted all the chapters :)
> 
> Jughead's Instagram is real btw, I created an account


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the beginning, I'm sorry for the very awkward 'Instagram scene', just laugh about it lol :)  
Quite a short chapter, kinda a filler, the end is mostly Veronica and Betty friendship :)

I woke up to my phone ringing.

“Hello? What time is it?”

“It’s 8:05, I’m just wondering where you are.” It was Jughead.

“Wait, what? It’s that late already?” I sat up straight and checked my clock, which confirmed what he’d said.

“Did I wake you?”

“Thank god you did. I’ll be there in five or ten minutes, did you bring your bike?”

“In fact, I did. I’d forgotten my alarm this morning, so I was a little late as well. I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Yes.” I hung up and got dressed, let my hair down as I was riding his motorcycle with a helmet, packed my bag for school and ran downstairs. I quickly grabbed one cracker and then ran outside, where Jughead was waiting for me.

“Hey sleepyhead.”

“Hi. Thanks for waking me.” I quickly grabbed the helmet he was holding out for me and put it on. He sat down on his bike and drove off the second I sat down too. I quickly wrapped my arms tightly around his waist. Because he was driving faster than legally allowed, we made it to school in time, we had about 7 minutes to get to class. When he’d parked his bike, I got off and handed my helmet back to him. When I’d put my hair in a ponytail, he was ready too. He grabbed my hand and we walked to class.

“Didn’t you set your alarm last night?”

“No, I apparently forgot. I’m surprised though that no one woke me up.”

“That is kinda mean.”

“Yeah. I mean, my mom’s always pushing me to have a perfect attendance, but she’s not helping me keep it. Luckily though, I have you.” I squeezed his hand.

“Your saving angle.”

“Today you honestly were.”

“Just today?”

“Basically every day, actually.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” We sat down in the back of the class and the teacher started the movie again. Jughead put his arm around my shoulder again and I rested my head on his shoulder. This time he wasn’t tracing circles on my side, so I was able to focus a bit better. Which was good, because just before the bell rang, the teacher asked me to talk about what we’d just watched. As I walked to my next class, I checked my phone. Both Veronica and Jughead had sent a reply.

'OMG, I told you! Tell me everything about it tomorrow after school!'

Veronica demanded.

'It was nothing more than you deserve'

Jughead’s message made me smile. Classes went by pretty fast for once, in the small break nothing special happened.

During lunch, I could tell Veronica wanted to know everything about last night, but she also wanted to wait until after school so I could talk freely. But she was basically bouncing up and down with excitement. Reggie noticed too.

“What are you so excited about, Ronnie? Did something happen?”

“Yes, Betty and Jughead happened last night.”

“Veronica, watch your words.” I threatened.

“Did you guys do it?” Reggie asked, completely shocked.

“No, of course not!” I answered quickly. I heard Jughead chuckle behind me.

“What did you do then?”

“We went on a date.” I said.

“B’s first date ever!” Veronica added.

“Cool, did you have fun?”

“Yes, we did.”

“Fun with what?” Kevin asked, as he was just arriving at our table with Cheryl and Toni.

“Our date last night.” Jughead said.

“Oh my god, Betty! Your first date!” I nodded, really wanting to change the subject as I wanted to keep this date between me and Jughead, to have it as our own special, private memory. Jughead seemed to notice, because he changed the subject.

“Kevin, Fangs, have you already been on a date?”

“Not yet, but we’re planning one.” Kevin said.

“I just don’t want a regular go-to-the-movies date, so we’re trying to come up with something original.”

“I feel offended.” Reggie said, meaning that he and Veronica went on a movie date a few days ago.

“There’s nothing wrong with movie dates, it’s just that we want something original.” Kevin clarified.

“Besides, I loved our date. That’s all that matters, right?” Veronica said.

“True.”

“As long as you have fun, I think everything could count as a date. It’s just something where two lovers spend some time together, doing something they both like.” Jughead said.

“Agreed. I don’t like those “perfect dates”, something personal is much more fun.” Cheryl agreed.

“I think I like our Netflix dates best, actually.” Toni added and Cheryl nodded in agreement.

“Netflix and chill!” Kevin suddenly shouted.

“No way, not as a first date.” Fangs instantly disagreed. “We’ll have many of those, but not as a first date, I refuse. If you really want that, then do it alone.”

“Oh my god, a single date! For when your boyfriend or girlfriend doesn’t wanna go out.” I laughed and everyone joined.

“Don’t worry, Betts. I’ll never let you go out alone.” Jughead said, kissing my cheek.

“Aw, thanks Jug. Me neither.”

“Guys, I’m trying to eat my sandwich, please take this love talk somewhere else.” Kevin complained.

“Every single time we say stuff like this to each other, someone is complaining.”

“Maybe take the hint then.” Reggie suggested.

“But I wanna feel free to say whatever I wanna say.” I complained.

“Kevin only said something about love ‘talk’.” Jughead whispered to me, smirking. I instantly knew what he meant and turned around a bit on his lap. Then he pressed his lips against mine for a few seconds.

“Guys! Stop it, not even Toni and I behave like that!” Cheryl shouted. Then we all broke out laughing. I felt my phone buzz with a message and I checked it. It was from Veronica, a picture with the text ‘cute’ below. I opened it and it was a picture of Jughead and me kissing just now. I had to admit it, it was kinda cute. It was weird to think that of myself, but it was true. I smiled at my phone.

“That is cute. Can you send it to me too?” Jughead whispered in my ear.

“Sure.” I said, and I forwarded it to him. Then I opened my Instagram and made a post, captioning it with this text:

'Because we couldn’t ‘love talk’ to each other <3 ~ Taken by @v.c.lodge'

Veronica was also the first to like it and comment on it.

@v.c.lodge ~ You guys cute

@v.c.lodge ~ @reggiemantle I want a photo like this too, @j.jones will you take it?

@reggiemantle ~ @v.c.lodge I’ll happily participate in the making of that photo

@j.jones ~ @v.c.lodge I’m not gonna, sorry. That’s too awkward. Ask Betty

@j.jones ~ Love this photo <3

@v.c.lodge ~ Betty, pleaseeeee??

@bettycooper ~ @v.c.lodge @reggiemantle I will, but only now, so go pose

@j.jones ~ My eyes are closed

I opened my camera and Veronica was just reading my message.

“B, now I feel awkward. I’m basically kissing for a photo, which feels weird.”

“I’m only open to it now, so it’s now or never. You said you wanted a picture like mine.”

“Fine. Reg, we’re recreating their photo. Now.” Veronica told him. So they kissed to and I snapped a photo.

“Okay, what’s going on here?” Fangs asked.

“Check Insta.” Was Veronica’s answer. So Cheryl, Toni, Fangs and Kevin all started checking their phones. My phone started buzzing non-stop with notifications.

@cheryl.bombshell ~ This is quite cute actually, I’ll admit

@kevin.keller ~ I ship it! #bughead

@fangs.fogarty ~ @kevin.keller what about us?

@kevin.keller ~ @fangs.fogarty I ship us too #fevin

@toni.topaz ~ @cheryl.bombshell want to recreate this too? We could make it a thing we all do

@bettycooper ~ @cheryl.bombshell @toni.topaz get in line, I’m shooting those now. @kevin.keller @fangs.fogarty you can’t break this tradition now

@cheryl.bombshell ~ @toni.topaz let’s go

@toni.topaz ~ @cheryl.bombshell @bettycooper sure why not

@kevin.keller ~ @fangs.fogarty @bettycooper I don’t know if I want our first kiss on camera

@bettycooper ~ @kevin.keller your first kiss?!

@fangs.fogarty ~ @kevin.keller our first? Did you seriously forget?

@kevin.keller ~ @fangs.fogarty of course not, I was kidding. We’ll get in line too?

@fangs.fogarty ~ @kevin.keller sure, why not

So before I knew it, I was photographing Cheryl and Toni kissing and then Kevin and Fangs too. All of them posted the pictures on their Insta, giving me credits. It was kind of weird, but we all laughed about it a lot, which made it less weird. Everyone around us did look at us like we were crazy though, but I didn’t care. Then I got a notification that I had a new comment.

@archie.andrews ~ Glad to see you’ve found yourself a man, happy for you <3

That was really sweet of him, and I suddenly kind of missed him. He had been with us in our friend group for so long, now he was almost gone. It made me a little sad, which Jughead of course noticed.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Archie just commented on my post and it reminded me of all the times we had together and I kinda miss him. We were quite good friends and now we barely talk anymore. It’s weird how people sometimes grow apart.”

“You don’t have to though. Grow apart, I mean. You can just go talk to him again, I’m sure he’d like that.”

“Aren’t boyfriends supposed to not want their girlfriend to hang out with other guys?” I laughed.

“Maybe, but I trust you, so I don’t care. I just want you to be happy, no matter how or what.”

“That’s so sweet, thanks Jug. I want you to be happy too, but I’d be devastated if you’d be happier with another girl. I’ll try to not get jealous or something, but I don’t know how I’ll react when you hang out with another girl as I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

“That’s fine, we’ll deal with it when it happens. Me befriending a girl, I mean. If that’ll ever happen, which I kinda doubt.”

“New people scare you, don’t they?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what to think or what to expect, so it’s scary.”

“I can imagine, especially after people who you loved have hurt you in the past. If you can’t trust the people closest to you, then why should you trust strangers?”

“Exactly.” Then the bell rang and we went to class.

After school, I waited for Veronica in front of the school. She came out about five minutes after me.

“Hey V, you’re late.”

“Hey B, sorry, Ms. Gyver made me stay longer, as I talked when I was supposed to be silent. I managed to get her to let me go though.”

“As always.”

“Which part?”

“All of it.” We laughed.

“Betty!” Someone suddenly shouted. I looked behind me and Jughead pulled me into a hug. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow around 9, is that okay? That way we have some time before we’re going to Kevin’s.”

“Sure. And as for clothes, you have something?”

“Yes, so don’t bother changing into something else tomorrow morning, you can change in what I’ve bought at your house. That’s easiest I think.”

“Yes, I think so too. I’ll see you tomorrow, Juggy.”

“See you tomorrow.” He said. Then he looked around and then pressed a quick kiss on my lips. Then he walked away and I turned back to Veronica.

“I know I’ve said it often, but you guys really are cute. Also kinda gross, with all the public kissing and stuff, but also cute.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Then we got into the car that was waiting for us. We didn’t talk until we were at Veronica’s house in her room, not wanting anyone to be able to hear what we were talking about.

“So, you and Reggie. Tell me everything.” I demanded, sitting down on her bed. She sat down next to me.

“Okay. So, Wednesday he rang my doorbell just as I was about to leave. He literally stood there with flowers in his hand, it was adorable. He gave me the flowers and there was a note in it. I read it and it basically asked if I wanted to be his girlfriend. He seemed really nervous, he was looking at the ground. When I read it, I felt so happy I couldn’t talk. So instead I just kissed him, which was answer enough for him. I honestly felt like, and still feel like, the luckiest girl in the world. That evening, he called me and asked if I wanted to go on a date with him. Of course I said yes, and he said he’d be on his way. That’s when I called you for fashion advice. Then we first went to Pop’s and drank a milkshake. He opened every door for me and was behaving like a real gentleman. It was so cute to see him trying so hard. Then we went to the drive-in, which was also really romantic. His arm was around me the entire time and every now and then he gave me a kiss. When the movie ended, he drove to some place quiet, where we made out for like half an hour. He’s an amazing kisser, thank god. Then he drove me home and since then we’ve been a happy couple. He’s the best, it feels so much real and better than it did with Jughead, so that’s good I think.”

“Who’s the better kisser?”

“They’re both amazing, but I think I’ll have to give Jughead that one. You’re lucky too, Betts. Now it’s your turn, talk.” I laughed.

“I’m happy for you, V. I’m happy you’re happy with someone other than Jug.”

“Thanks. Now, spill the tea please.”

“I start when he asked me too?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Okay then. Wednesday morning, he picked me up for school. He was a little late, so he was with his bike. I hate that thing, but we rode it too school anyway, because I said it was fine. That meant we were early, so we spent some time in the Blue & Gold. He told me then to go there again in the first break, so I did, feeling very nervous. He then gave me a present, which I opened and it was that teddy bear I showed you all. Same as you, I wasn’t able to speak. So I also kissed him as an answer. Then I got excited and we had our first French kiss, which was amazing by the way. After school, when we were in the Blue & Gold, Charles came to us and had his conversation with Jughead then, which went well. Charles then talked to mom, who wanted to meet to Jughead again. That’s how he ended up at dinner with me and my family. He got into a fight with my mom and went outside, but they made up and my mom was actually quite impressed with him. He stood up for me and she appreciated that. So it all ended well. Then yesterday he’d sent me a text, asking me to go out with him. We discussed if it was a date or not and decided it was. Like I told you, he said we’d be going to Pop’s. When he picked me up though, he asked if I was okay with going somewhere else too. I said yes and we walked into the forest, to a clearing where he’d prepared a picnic, with self-made cookies. It was honestly perfect, let me tell you. Things got a bit heated too, but I’m not gonna elaborate on that. Every day he picks me up for school, usually without his bike. He’s the best, honestly.” I was surprised Veronica hadn’t interrupted me once.

“You’re glowing, Betty. I’m so happy for you, you finally seem to have found some happiness. I really hope you guys are endgame.”

“Don’t use that word, please.” I laughed.

“Sorry. I do think so though.”

“I hope so. Right now, when I picture my life without Jughead, it’s just black. I can’t anymore.”

“I think you guys mean more to each other than most people mean to one another.”

“I think so too. We’re both pretty damaged, but we make each other feel whole again, like everything that once hurt us, doesn’t anymore when we’re together. It’s a beautiful thing, but also scary. We both are scared of this relationship, but we both also feel like it’s worth it. Plus, the fact that we’re both afraid to lose each other, is also a good sign. The chance of us splitting up anytime soon is very slight.”

“That dependency you have on each other, I’ve noticed it. It’s clearly visible in Jughead’s eyes when he looks at you, it’s adorable.”

“So I’ve not been imagining that.”

“Nope, definitely not.”

“You know, V? I think I might actually be falling in love with him.” I admitted.

“Really? That’s amazing, B! When are you telling him?”

“When the time’s right. I also have an idea about how, can you give your opinion on it?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“I was thinking of buying him a teddy bear that says “I love you” and then giving that.”

“That’s perfect. I’d say do it! He’ll love it, I’m sure.”

“I sure hope so. And I hope that whenever I give it to him, it won’t be too early and that he’ll say it back.”

“He probably will, I wouldn’t worry about that too much.”

“I’ll try not to. I actually have a favour to ask you about it.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t have time to go to a shop anymore, will you maybe go for me?”

“Sure B, no problem. Any specific colour you want?”

“Either grey or brown, but the heart had to be red. It has to look kinda like the one he gave me, but of course a different text.”

“I’ll find it and give it to you tomorrow, at Kevin’s.”

“Thanks V, you’re a life saver.”

“No problem.” We talked a lot more, about everything and anything. We had dinner, Pop’s take-out and around 9:00pm, Smithers drove me home. At home, I did some homework and then went to sleep, not wanting to be tired tomorrow. When I checked my phone, I had a message from Jughead.

'I’m looking forward to tomorrow, sleep well Betts'

I instantly sent my reply.

'Me too, Juggy. Goodnight!'

Then I sent Veronica a text.

'I had a great time today, we should hang out more often! Goodnight and I’ll see you tomorrow again!'

Then I went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are appreciated :)  
Have you so far read everything I posted? If yes, what do you think? I don't mind honesty :)  
I know it's a bit weird Betty asked Veronica to buy that teddy bear, but she really wants it asap and she has her photoshoot with Juggy the next morning and then the sleep over. Trust me, you'll thank Veronica later :)
> 
> The next two chapters will have a LOOOOOOOT of Bughead, so stay tuned :)


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quite a lot of Bughead in this chapter, I hope you'll enjoy it :)  
To see the location of the photoshoot, check the story on Jughead's Instagram, @j.jonesviewoftheworld

I woke up before my alarm went off, feeling excited. I got up and went downstairs to have breakfast. I also texted Jughead.

'If you wanna come earlier, I’m up'

It was only 7:50am, and Jughead wouldn’t be here until 9. After I’d eaten my cracker, I went to my bedroom again to do some homework. Around 8:20am, I got a text from Jughead.

'I’m on my way'

My heart jumped reading his text and I went downstairs, sitting down in front of the window so I could see him when he’d arrive. Maybe it was a bit desperate, but I didn’t care. When his bike pulled up in front of my house, I went to the front door and opened it. When he got off his bike, I walked up to him, doing my very best not to run. When I was close enough, I hugged him.

“Hey Betts, did you sleep well?”

“Hey Juggy. I did, how about you?”

“A little short, but well. Let’s go inside, it’s a bit chilly.” He said, rubbing my bare arms, as I was still only wearing my tank top. We went inside and I closed the door behind us.

“What do you have for me?”

“I hope you like it.” He opened the bag he’d brought and pulled out a long, red, flowy dress. My mouth fell open.

“Jughead! It’s beautiful! Where did you find this?”

“Somewhere north, I was driving around and saw it in a shop. I could just picture you in this at my location.”

“It’s honestly beautiful. You didn’t spend too much money on it though, right?”

“Don’t worry about it, it wasn’t too expensive.” He smiled. “Now go get changed.” I went upstairs to my room to get changed. When I put on the dress, I felt like a princess. It came all the way to my ankles and the top was tight, but not too tight. The bottom was now hanging straight, but when I would twirl, it was flowing around me. It was gorgeous. I let my hair down, as it looked best with the dress. He also had some red sneakers in the bag, which somehow didn’t look out of place with my dress. When I walked downstairs, he was waiting for me. When he saw me, I saw something in his eyes which I had never seen before with anyone, I also didn’t know what it was. I could tell it was something positive, but I didn’t know what exactly.

“You look absolutely beautiful, Betts. Beautiful isn’t even enough, you look indescribable. Even better than I imagined.” I looked down, bashfully. He tilted my head with on finger and pressed a short kiss on my lips. “You really do.”

“Thank you.” I said.

“I was a little afraid the shoes wouldn’t match, but they look quite good actually.”

“It was a bold choice, but I like it too.”

“Walking is also quite doable, right?”

“It’s as easy as walking in jeans.”

“Good, because we do have to walk a bit. Don’t worry, it’s mostly following a path.”

“Mostly?”

“The last part is pathless, but I’ll make sure you don’t ruin the dress.”

“That’s a difficult task though, I can be quite clumsy.”

“I know, but it’ll be fine. Do your parents know you’ll be out?”

“I told them, but if they remember will always be the question. I’ll leave a note.” Just as I said that, my mom came down.

“Good morning Betty. Oh, and Jughead. Whose is that dress?”

“Good morning mom. Jughead bought it for me, we’re doing another photoshoot.”

“Right, you said that yesterday. Well, have fun then.”

“Thanks.” I pulled Jughead with me out of the house.

“Bye Mrs. Cooper!” Jughead managed to say to my mom before I’d pulled him outside. “Why are you suddenly in such a hurry?”

“I don’t want my mom to get the chance to say something nasty about me or my clothes.”

“I think she was quite impressed, actually.”

“I don’t think so, she’s never been impressed with how I look.”

“I think she is now.”

“I don’t know. Hey, we’re not taking your bike, right?”

“No, we’re walking.”

“Then maybe you should park your bike behind our house? It standing here the entire morning might not be the best idea.”

“Will your mom be okay with that?”

“She’ll have to be.”

“Okay, through where can I move it to the back?” I showed him and when his bike was behind my house, we started walking towards the forest.

“You said it wouldn’t be in the forest!” I said, accusingly.

“No, I said we had to walk through the forest to get there, but that the location wasn’t a natural one. I didn’t lie.”

“How do you think I’ll manage to walk through the forest without ruining the dress?”

“I have faith in you that you can.”

“Wasted hope. You think way too much of me, Jones.”

“Have some confidence in yourself, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“I’ll be fine, yes. But the dress won’t.”

“Have some confidence.”

“I don’t know how.” That was way more truthful than I intended it to be.

“What is something you’re good at?”

“I can’t think of something.” I didn’t have to think about that answer, it just came rolling out.

“Betty, you didn’t even think.”

“But I already know I’m not good at anything.”

“That’s a lie. I don’t think it’s often that you get a B or lower on a test, is it?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean–”

“Only people that are good at something get high grades, so whatever you were about to say isn’t true. I get why you always talk bad about yourself and I know it’s not something you do on purpose or because you like it. Still, you should really try to sometimes admit to yourself to being good at something. I know it’s hard, but I’m here to help you.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

“I just don’t know how, I don’t know how to get my brain to believe I’m good at something. That sounds pathetic, I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t. I’ll help you. Would you be proud of yourself if you’d be good in school?”

“A little, but not very. I know that when people work hard enough, almost everyone can be good in school.”

“That’s not true. Some people work their ass off, but still get low grades. Anyway, that’s not what this is about. What would you be proud of?”

“If I’d be good at anything, basically.”

“What do you like to do?”

“Writing.” I didn’t have to think of that answer.

“Wouldn’t it be awesome if you’d be proud of your writing?”

“It would, but I feel like I always can do better.”

“Which is true, you always can. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be proud of what you’ve already done.”

“I never thought of it like that. It’s quite enlightening, actually.”

“I know. Sometimes you just need someone to show or tell you there’s another way to look at things. Now, repeat after me. ‘I’m good at writing’.”

“Jughead, I’m not gonna do this.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s silly.”

“Then be silly with me please. Repeat after me. ‘I’m good at writing’.”

“I’m good at–” My voice just stopped working, I physically couldn’t say it. I felt tears coming out of my eyes. “I can’t, Jughead.” I said and then I started crying. We stopped walking and he wrapped his arms around me, rubbing my back. I was frustrated with myself, why couldn’t I just say it? It was just a sentence, but I couldn’t get my mouth to speak it. It was like I completely got blocked, like I’d lost the ability to speak, but only for that specific sentence. Jughead just kept rubbing my back and hugging me until I’d calmed down.

“It’s a good thing I’m not wearing any make-up, that would’ve been ruined now.” I said, trying to lighten the mood.

“That’s why I wanted you to try to say it, I knew it’d get a reaction out of you. It’s quite confronting, but not being able to say it, means you genuinely don’t believe it and that every cell in your body disagrees. You have to try again though.” I took a deep breath.

“I’m– I’m good at– I’m good at writing.” I was so relieved and proud of myself when I’d said it. Jughead was too, as he picked me up in hug.

“How does that feel?”

“I feel relieved.”

“Say it again.”

“I’m good at writing.” I said and it felt good.

“Again.” I laughed.

“I’m good at writing.”

“Yell it, tell the whole world.”

“I’m good at writing!”

“Louder!”

“I’M GOOD AT WRITING!” I shouted, top volume. Instantly after, I broke out laughing. Jughead laughed with me.

“Now try to say it once every day at least, out loud. Not necessarily with people around, but do say it out loud. Words spoken out loud have more power than words thought.”

“And where did you get this wisdom from?”

“Experience. When lying in a hospital bed for six weeks not being able to move, you start thinking. I started experimenting with different things, saying positive and negative things to myself. I instantly noticed a difference. Then I started reading about it. After about three weeks of telling yourself you’re good at writing every day, eventually you will genuinely believe it. Your mind holds a lot of power over you, sometimes it uses the power wrong and is only in your way.”

“Tell me about it. The human brain is the most complex, most important organ in your body, yet it’s also the worst. It’s the one thing that can be in your way more than anything else.”

“That’s so true. Realizing that is often frustrating and confronting though, because the solution sounds so easy but feels impossible.” I nodded. We had started walking again and suddenly Jughead led me off the path.

“Uhm, Jughead?” I said, hesitating.

“It’s not as impossible as it looks, trust me. It’ll be fine.”

“If you say so. I’m blaming you when something goes wrong though.” I said.

“Fine. Now let’s go.” We slowly and carefully walked through the woods. After about ten minutes, I saw our location. It was a big, black castle ruin. It looked so mysterious and beautiful, so out of place and yet it belonged here too. I also understood now why I was wearing a red dress, it would look beautiful with the black walls of the ruin.

“It’s amazing, Jug. I see now why my dress is red.”

“Red was the only possible colour for this setting.” I nodded in agreement. Then he positioned me in front of one of the walls, shooting away. At one point, he asked me to climb one of the walls. I was scared, but he helped me and I got on top of one of the walls. After about one hour of shooting, Jughead helped me down again.

“This shoot might be my favourite yet.” Jughead said, looking from me to his camera proudly.

“I think so too, I think the contrast will make everything so interesting.”

“We were also lucky with the weather, editing these photos so that everything seems a bit dark and gloomy except for you because of your dress won’t be so hard.” He was so proud and happy that I couldn’t stop myself from kissing him. So I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips against his. He instantly moved one hand into my hair and his other arm around me. My lips parted, but he was the one who deepened our kiss. Every time I felt his tongue passing the barrier that was my lips, some sort of excitement started coursing through my body and I was eager to get as close to him as I could, without actually having sex. Then Jughead started walking forward, until my back hit the wall of the ruin. Both his hands moved down along my back and wrapped around my legs just below my ass. With his help, I wrapped my legs around his waist, tightening my hold around his neck without choking him. He moaned into my mouth, which sent an electric shock through my veins. When I broke away from him to catch my breath, he continued to kiss my neck and leave little love bites there. I softly pushed him away then and unwrapped my legs from his waist.

“It’s too hot to wear a scarf.” I said, giggling.

“Who cares?” He murmured.

“Me, and probably my mom.” He sighed.

“Then can I at least get one more kiss?”

“Sure, but a short one. We have to get going if we want to be at Kevin’s in time.” His hands cupped my face and he gave me a short kiss on the lips. I sighed when he pulled away.

“Let’s go back to your house and then to Kevin’s.” Jughead said, reluctantly.

“Hey, tonight we’ll have a room to ourselves.” I said, grabbing his hand.

“True. A small bed though.”

“We’ll be fine. Otherwise I’ll just sleep on the floor.”

“No way are you sleeping on the floor. If one of us sleeps on the floor, it’ll be me.”

“Let’s just stay in the bed then.”

“We’ll try.” We walked back to my house in silence, but not an awkward silence. Just before we went inside, I pulled Jughead to a stop.

“Nothing’s visible in my neck, right?”

“Only a little, but if you walk fast enough, no one will see.”

“I hate you, you know that?”

“I do.” He smirked. Then we went upstairs and instantly to my room, to pack my things. I hadn’t noticed Jughead following me, so when I turned away from my closet and he was sitting on my bed, it made me jump.

“I didn’t know you came up with me.”

“Where else would I have gone?”

“I don’t know, actually. I just hadn’t expected you here. Now close your eyes, I’m getting changed.” He obediently closed his eyes and also turned around. I sat down next to him when I was changed.

“You ready?” He asked, opening his eyes again.

“Yep, let’s go.”

“With my bike this time, though.” I groaned. 

“Fine, try to get me killed again.”

“As if I could.” He poked me in the ribs and I pushed him in response. When we’d walked down the stairs I called out to my parents.

“Bye mom, bye dad! I’m having a sleepover at Kevin’s!”

“Elizabeth, could you come in here for a second?” My mom asked. Why did she want to talk to me now?

“We’re running late, so is it urgent?”

“We?”

“Yeah, Jughead and me. Remember, we did a shoot.”

“Right. Then both of you, come in here for a second.”

“Put your arm around my shoulders and don’t take it away.” I hissed at Jughead, not wanting my mom to see the love bites that might be visible on my neck. Jughead chuckled and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. We walked into the living room. 

“What’s up mom?”

“How many people are going to this sleepover?”

“I think we’re with eight.”

“Does Kevin have that many spare rooms?”

“No, but some of us will be sleeping on the ground or the couch.”

“Where will you be sleeping? I don’t want you sleeping on something other than a bed, it’s bad for your back.”

“That’s actually bullshit, but don’t worry, I’m sleeping on a bed.”

“And you, Jughead?” I looked at him, trying to tell him with my eyes to lie.

“On the ground, Mrs. Cooper. Betty offered me the bed, but I didn’t want to have her sleeping on the ground.”

“Like a real gentleman, good for you. Well, say ‘hello’ to your friends for me, and have fun! What time will you be home tomorrow?”

“Probably not before 3pm. Why?”

“No reason, just curious.”

“I’ll say hello to my friends. See you tomorrow!” I said, eager to get going.

“Have a nice weekend, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper.” Jughead politely said, before I pulled him away and outside.

“Bye, have fun!” My mom and dad said. When we were outside, I let out a sigh of relief.

“Why are you so afraid of your mom seeing your neck, what would she do?”

“If there’s one thing my mom hates, is public display of love. You having your arm around me is okay with her, but anything else isn’t. If she had seen my neck, she would’ve been super mad about that when I came home tomorrow. She thinks love is something private you share with only the one you love, no one else. Public kissing is the biggest sin of them all, or at least that’s what my mom thinks.”

“She really would’ve been mad?”

“My mom’s a crazy woman.”

“She is indeed. How do you live with that?”

“Acceptance and ignorance. Just don’t say no and let her say what she wants, and most importantly: don’t remember anything she says. It’ll make your life miserable.”

“Listening to you talking about your family almost makes me happy I’m not around mine anymore.”

“Every family is different though.”

“True. I do miss my family. Except for my mom, I couldn’t care less about her.” He was sitting on his bike now, handing me my helmet.

“You could’ve told me before we were taking your bike, then I wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of getting my hair in this ponytail.” I teased.

“I told you, but you probably forgot. I don’t mind though, as I like pulling the elastic out of your hair.”

“You’re a weirdo.” I said, as I turned my back to him so he could take my elastic.

“You like it though.”

“I do.” When my hair was loose again, I put on the helmet and climbed on behind him. I wrapped my arms around his waist and closed my eyes, before he took off. After what felt like forever, he pulled over and unwrapped my arms from his waist.

“Do you still keep your eyes closed?” He sounded a bit surprised.

“Yes. It’s still scary as hell.”

“So you’re not slowly getting used to it?”

“Maybe a little, but no, not really.”

“But it’s not as horrible as in the beginning, is it?”

“No, but I still don’t like it.”

“I know.”

“What time is it?” He checked his phone.

“12:55, so we’re perfectly on time.”

“I’m proud of us.”

“Me too. Now let’s go inside.” He held my hand as we walked up to the door, which was opened by Veronica before we had even rung the bell.

“Hey guys! We’ve been waiting for you! Put your bike in the back though, Jugs. Betty, come on.” She was incredibly excited and I didn’t know why exactly, but it scared me and made me excited too at the same time.

“You’re excited.”

“Of course! We’re all together once again!”

“You said you’d been waiting for us, but we’re not late though, are we?”

“No, you’re not. Everyone else was early though. Now, let go of Jughead so he can put his bike in the backyard and come with me.” I reluctantly let go of Jughead’s hand and let Veronica drag me inside. Jughead went back to his bike. When we arrived in the living room, Veronica pulled me down on the couch beside her. Reggie was sitting on her other side, Kevin and Fangs were sitting on the love seat and Cheryl and Toni were sharing an armchair. As I looked around quickly, I realized all of us had a boyfriend or girlfriend now, and it was weird and nice at the same time.

“Kev, Fangs, are you guys official yet?” Cheryl asked.

“Unofficially official, I think.” Kevin said. “Hey Betty, nice to see you! Where’s Jug?”

“He’s putting his bike in the backyard. He’ll be in soon too.”

“Nice, then we can start having lunch. None of you have had lunch yet, right?” We all shook our heads. Then Jughead walked in.

“Did anyone mention food?”

“Yes, Juggy, we’re having lunch now.” I laughed. Kevin got up and pulled Fangs with him to the kitchen.

“Let me help you guys.” Jughead offered.

“No, it’s fine, we got it, thanks.” Kevin quickly replied.

“Be quick though, I’m hungry.”

“Betty, haven’t you fed him?” Veronica teased.

“Sorry, I forgot. We were too busy.” My hand flew to my mouth the second I’d spoken those words. All the girls burst out laughing and Jughead was grinning. Reggie was just confused.

“What’s so funny? I don’t get it. Please Ronnie, explain.”

“They were “busy”. With what would they be busy?”

“Doing that photoshoot?”

“Okay, I don’t know if I you’re being serious right now, because if you are, I don’t know what to say or do.”

“Sorry, I’m being serious. I really don’t get it.” Reggie looked at me for help, and I suggestively licked my lips. I kept looking at him as he slowly figured it out.

“Oh, right.” He said, when he understood. We all laughed.

“Quick thinking, Reg.” Jughead sarcastically said.

“Lunch is ready! Everyone to the kitchen!” Kevin suddenly shouted from the kitchen. Jughead was walking there instantly. Then we all got up and walked to the kitchen, having lunch with each other. Kevin and Fangs had baked some eggs and mushrooms, both were to be put on a French baguette. It was delicious. They had made a lot, but Jughead made sure nothing went to waste. He probably ate as much as we all did together, but he still said he could eat more. He wasn’t hungry, but he could eat more if necessary. We cleaned up together and then went back into the living room. Veronica grabbed my arm though, as I was walking to the living room. She pulled me back into the kitchen.

“What’s up, V?” I asked her.

“What’s that in your neck?”

“Is it that visible?” I asked, nervously.

“No, I’m sure no one else has noticed. They would’ve for sure mentioned it if they had. But what is it? Is it what I think it is?”

“I don’t know what you’re thinking.” I said, trying to sound oblivious.

“Come on, B!” Veronica almost yelled. I shushed her.

“Fine, Jughead gave them right before I could stop him.” I quickly said. Veronica squealed. “Quiet! And don’t tell anyone, please.” I said.

“Sure, no problem. And believe me, no one else will notice them. They haven’t so far, so they won’t later either.” That made me a bit less nervous about it. Then we walked into the living room, just as Kevin started talking.

“We’re gonna play a game, but for that you have to sit boy-girl-boy-girl etc. as much as possible. Don’t sit next to your boyfriend or girlfriend though.” Kevin ordered.

“What is this game?” I asked.

“A fun version of truth or dare.”

“Really?” I said, sounding not enthusiastic at all.

“A fun version, I said. We have some new additions to our group, so we should get to know each other. What better way than truth or dare?”

“Fine Kev, I’ll be excited. Yay.” I said, and I jumped up in the air, throwing my fist into the air as well. Everyone burst out laughing and Jughead poked me in my ribs. Then we sat down, I was sitting next to Kevin and Reggie.

“So, we’ll be asking something to the person on your right. It’s actually just truth or dare, but without getting to choose who you ask.”

“So it’s basically truth or dare with rules?” I asked.

“Yeah. I’ll start.” I was sitting on Kevin’s right. “Betty, truth or dare?”

“Let’s go with truth.”

“Since when did you have a crush on Jughead?”

“Damn, you’re not starting this slow, are you? Just jumping right in.” I laughed.

“I’ve been dying to know.” Kevin shrugged.

“Well, I was intrigued from the very beginning. I think my crush started when he and Veronica broke up, but it could’ve been before that too. I usually hide my feelings not only from the world, but also from myself, so I’m not 100% sure.” Jughead was smirking at me and I winked at him. He was sitting across the room, as far away as possible.

“Have you had a crush on someone before?” Kevin asked.

“Hey, it’s my turn to ask a question now. Reggie, truth or dare?”

“Let’s do truth as well.”

“What made you decide to join our group and leave your old one?”

“I didn’t exactly leave my old one, it’s not something you can just do. The Southside Serpents are a community that you don’t easily get out of. But I decided to hang out with you guys more because Fangs needed a wingman, and I wanted to get to know new people. Also, Veronica had caught my attention before and I wanted to get to know her.” When he talked about the Southside Serpents, I gave Jughead a meaningful look. He was looking down though, so he didn’t see it. I suddenly wondered if Reggie and Fangs knew Jughead already, but it was not something to be talked about with everyone here.

“So it was love at first sight then?”

“It’s my turn to ask the question now, sorry Betty. Cheryl, truth or dare?”

“I’m picking dare.”

“Sing everything you say for the next three rounds.” Cheryl looked at him unbelievingly.

“For real?” Reggie nodded. “Fine. Veronica, truth or dare?” Cheryl sang. We were lucky, she wasn’t a bad singer.

“Truth.”

“What do you like about Reggie that Jughead doesn’t have?” Cheryl sang.

“That’s a question asking for trouble.” We all laughed. “Well, I don’t think it’s necessarily something that Reggie has and Jughead doesn’t have, I think it’s more that Jughead feels more like a brother and dating your brother is weird. Jughead and I just don’t have that love connection, you know?”

“Love connections are only between two certain people, as my mom used to say. A true connection is something that only exists with one special someone, all your other loves are just flings, even when they last twenty years.” Jughead said.

“So, Jughead. Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Do you believe in ‘one true love’?”

“Like, do I think it exists?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I do. I think for everyone there’s this one person out there who you are meant to be with. And I think you’ll eventually find that person.” He smiled at me and I smiled back, blushing. “Fangs, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Act like a dog for one whole minute.”

“That is awesome!” Cheryl sang. Fangs rolled his eyes, but then got down on his knees and hands, ‘walking’ around and climbing onto Kevin’s lap, snuggling there even though there was no room for that, because he obviously was way bigger than a dog. So he ended up rolling off of Kevin’s lap, falling onto mine and then on the ground, looking around confused. We all burst out laughing.

“Is that enough?” Fangs asked.

“Yes, you can be yourself now. Although I don’t think there’s that big of a difference.” Jughead teased.

“Well, thank you.” Fangs sarcastically replied. “Toni, truth or dare?”

“I’m choosing dare too, I like these dares.”

“Do an impression of someone in the group until someone can figure out who it is.” Toni thought about it for a while and then got up. She walked to Cheryl and pulled her up too, pulling her in for a hug.

“That’s either Betty or Jughead, probably Betty.” Reggie instantly said. I pushed him. Everyone started laughing.

“First guess is correct.” Toni said, between giggles.

“I don’t hug all the time.” I defended myself, looking at Jughead for support.

“Only every time I walk up to your lunch table.” Reggie said. I pursed my lips, not knowing what to say as I knew it was true.

“Sorry Betts, I’m not gonna lie. I don’t mind though, I like your hugs.” Jughead said.

“Thanks, I guess.” I rolled my eyes.

“Kevin, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Have you ever kissed a girl?” I was just taking a sip of my drink, but instantly spew it all out again when Toni asked the question. Everyone looked at me questioningly. I looked at Kevin.

“Well, Betty and I may have kissed once?” He said it like a question and I felt my face redden.

“What’s the story behind this?” Toni asked.

“It was in middle school, I think we were about 8 years old. We were playing spin the bottle and when I was spinning it, it landed on Betty. So we kissed.”

“That’s not bad or anything, I expected something scandalous from Betty’s reaction.” Cheryl said. My face reddened even more.

“Well, we may have kissed twice? Four years ago, Betty wanted more experience. So we–”

“I think that’s enough story time. Next truth or dare.” I quickly interrupted. Everyone laughed.

“So, Betty. Truth or dare?” I was glad it was Kevin asking me, I knew he wouldn’t continue on our previous conversation.

“Truth.”

“Have you had a crush on someone before?”

“When I was younger, I had a crush on Archie. When we went to high school though, it kinda faded away.”

“But that’s when he really got hot!” Kevin exclaimed.

“I know. But I was over it, I think.”

“Or you’re just not into handsome guys.” Cheryl teased.

“I feel a bit offended.” Jughead said, laughing.

“Shouldn’t you be glad I don’t think you’re handsome? It’d be a bit weird, wouldn’t it?” 

“I don’t know.”

“Reggie, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Read the last text you sent out loud.” Reggie took out his phone and found his last text.

“Can’t wait, see you there. To Veronica, just before I left from home to go here.”

“Aw, it’s nothing naughty or exposing.”

“That’s not stuff I text about, I say those things in person. Cheryl, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Is Toni your first relationship?”

“Actually, no. Archie and I dated for, I think three months. That was before I acknowledged being gay, though. But when I saw Toni, I knew it.”

“That’s quite cute, actually.”

“Thanks. Veronica, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“What do your parents think about you dating a Southsider?”

“They honestly couldn’t care less. I’m really lucky with my parents, all they want is for me to be happy, no matter how or with whom.”

“I wish my parents were that understanding.” I said.

“They approve now though, right?”

“Kinda.”

“Baby steps, I guess. Anyway, truth or dare, Jughead?”

“Dare.”

“Make everyone in this room awkward by doing one thing.”

“That’s more like a challenge though.”

“Yes, good luck.” Jughead’s eyes travelled around the circle we were sitting in and landed on me. He winked at me before walking to me. When he stood in front of me, he pulled me off of the couch, wrapping his arms around my waist. Then he pressed his lips against mine, pulling away a few seconds after that. He stepped away.

“Did I succeed?”

“Yeah, I think so. But Betty?” My face was red, so I just nodded.

“You know, that was actually cheating.” Fangs said.

“How?” Jughead asked.

“Well, you used someone else to fulfil your dare.”

“So did Toni, when she imitated Betty by hugging Cheryl.”

“Fair enough.” Jughead sat back down and we continued. We probably played truth or dare for like two hours, it was actually quite fun. We got to learn a lot about each other, which was great. At one point, Kevin mentioned snacks in the kitchen. I asked Reggie if he wanted to go get them with me, which he did. When we were in the kitchen, I quietly asked him:

“Can I ask you a question?”

“You’re the one who can ask me anything when playing truth or dare, why didn’t you ask this then?”

“Because it’s something not everyone needs to know.”

“Now I’m curious, what’s it?”

“Did you already know Jughead? He told me about his past, and I just wondered that today.” Reggie sighed.

“I did. Only by name though, when he left he was talked about a lot. We had been with the Serpents at the same time too, so I probably saw him then, but we never spoke. Neither has Fangs, if you’re wondering that too. So neither of us had anything to do with him ending up in the hospital, we never beat him up. We heard about it though.”

“That’s all I wanted to know, thanks.”

“I’m glad you didn’t ask it back there.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

“You also know what you want, don’t you?”

“Yes. And when I do, I don’t stop until I have what I want. Well, not when it comes to people though. But when it comes to knowing stuff, I don’t stop until I do.”

“Jughead has his hands quite full with you, doesn’t he?”

“Maybe. Now let’s get back, they’re probably waiting for us.”

“For the snacks, you mean.”

“True.” We walked back and I tossed a bag of potato chips at Jughead, which he caught effortlessly.

“Thanks Betts.”

“Betty! Why did you do that?” Kevin yelled.

“So that we’ll get the time to also eat something, now he’ll first have finished that bag before he starts eating all of this.”

“Good thinking, B.” Veronica said. Reggie and I put the other snacks on the table and sat down again.

“So, where were we?” Toni asked.

“Can we please do something else now? I’m quite done with this game.” Cheryl complained.

“It was fun though, wasn’t it?” Kevin asked.

“Yes, it was. But now I wanna do something else though.”

“Like what?”

“Watch a movie?”

“It’s only 3:30pm, isn’t that a bit early to already start watching movies?”

“It’s never too early for a movie.” Veronica said.

“True. But let’s do something else first.” Kevin said.

“Like what?” Cheryl challenged.

“We could go outside, take a walk or something? I mean, the weather is too good to spend all day inside.” I suggested.

“But we just got snacks!” Reggie said.

“Then we go when they’re finished.”

“I think it’s a good idea.” Fangs said.

“Thanks.”

“Me too. Let’s soak up some vitamin D.” Veronica agreed.

“If Ronnie’s going, then so am I.” Reggie said.

“Aw, afraid to stay alone?” I teased.

“No, I just like spending time with her.” Reggie defended himself.

“I’m in too.” Jughead said. We smiled at each other.

“Tee-Tee, we’re going too, right?” Cheryl asked.

“Yes.”

“Kevin?” I asked.

“I’m in too. But let’s first finish the snacks.” So we all began eating the snacks. I ate a few cucumber slices and one hand of potato chips. After about 30 minutes, thanks to Jughead’s ever ending hunger, we went outside. Kevin and Cheryl led the way, I was walking next to Veronica. We talked about anything and everything. We went to the forest and Jughead had brought his camera, so he was constantly taking pictures. Mostly of the nature, but also sometimes of the group. As I was talking to Veronica, I also kept looking at Jughead, watching him be in his own world, taking photos. It was at exactly that moment that I suddenly realized something. I loved Jughead. I’ve thought that I loved him before, but I never felt in in my body. Now, looking at him being his true self, doing what he loves, made me fall in love with him with every cell in my body. Feeling the love for him flowing through my body, made me very happy. I smiled and then gave Veronica my full attention. I felt like before I was trying to find something, looking at Jughead. Now I felt like I found it, so I could let him be. It was weird to feel those things, as I’d never felt them before. I didn’t quite know how to put words to it, but I did know I loved Jughead and knowing that made me happy. I couldn’t wait to give him his teddy bear. Then I suddenly got nervous; what if he didn’t say it back?

“B, what’s wrong? You look worried all of a sudden.”

“What if Jughead doesn’t love me back?” I whispered.

“Are you seriously worried about that?”

“Yes. If he does, why hasn’t he said anything before?”

“Because he doesn’t want to scare you off. He knows you’re new to this, he doesn’t want to push you into anything.”

“But still, what if?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much if I were you.” Veronica tried to comfort me. It worked only a little. Then someone suddenly threw an arm around my shoulder and kissed my head. At that kiss, I knew it was Jughead. Veronica gave me a look like ‘I told you, don’t worry’ and walked away to walk next to Reggie. I turned my head to look at him.

“Did you take some nice shots?”

“Quite a few, I think.”

“What do you like best, doing a shoot or just shooting around?”

“It’s quite different from each other, but I like our shoots. A lot. But just shooting whatever my eye catches also gives me a feeling of freedom, which is also nice. I think I like the variety, doing it both. One thing that I do like most by far, is the extra’s that come with doing a photoshoot with you. Like, everything that usually happens after it.” He winked at me and I blushed.

“I don’t mind those moments either.” When I realized how that sounded not happy about it at all, I added: “Well, I like it too, I guess. This is making me awkward.” I giggled.

“It’s not weird or something to admit that you like kissing me, if you didn’t, we wouldn’t be together now, would we?”

“True. So, I really like those moments after the shoot.”

“Good. I’d be worried if you didn’t.”

“For me, you’re my first boyfriend and the first person I’ve kissed. So I’m–”

“Don’t lie, Cooper. I now know you kissed Kevin. What was that second story anyway? I got kinda curious.”

“That’s really awkward, I don’t know if I want you to know.”

“I wanna know though. Please, Betty?” I sighed.

“Fine. Well, as you know, you’re my first boyfriend. When I was about 12 or 13, I thought it was weird that I’d never kissed someone before. With spin the bottle I had, but that was different and always as short as possible. So I asked Kevin, knowing he wouldn’t mean it as he’s gay. So one day we kissed, tongue-less though, obviously. I just didn’t want to be that one girl who hasn’t kissed a boy. It was really awkward though and afterwards, Kevin and I didn’t talk for three weeks, because I just couldn’t. I now wished I didn’t, but at the time I felt like it was something I had to do.”

“You were a weirdo even back then.” Jughead teased. I rolled my eyes.

“Now my question, the one I was about to ask before you rudely interrupted me. So, as I was saying, for me you’re the first and only person so far I’ve really kissed and for me it’s an amazing experience, like nothing else in the world. It gives me this feeling I can’t put to words, but it’s a good feeling. I was wondering though, is it the same for you? Like, am I special to you? Because you have obviously kissed other girls before, but is it different for you?”

“You might think it’s not, but it actually is. Everyone kisses in their own way, so if you’d kiss 10 different guys, you’d have 10 different kisses. When I was with the Serpents, the girls I kissed back then, I never felt it with them, you know. It was like I was supposed to do it, but it wasn’t something I necessarily wanted. Kissing Veronica was nice, but it also felt a bit wrong, there was always this voice in the back of my mind telling me I was doing something wrong. Kissing you though, that’s a whole new experience for me too. I feel what I’m doing and I want to do it. I feel those electric sparks coursing through my body when we kiss, which I’ve never experienced before. So yes, for me it’s very different.” I was blushing and smiling, because I liked what he said but it also made me a little awkward.

“I know what you mean with those electric sparks, I feel those too. They make me more excited and make it harder to stop, you know.”

“Yeah. You know, I think I actually know when you feel those, because your way of kissing me always changes at a certain point.”

“In what way?”

“Like, you get more eager or something.”

“Well, I do. But let’s talk about something else, because I’m starting to want to kiss you now but we can’t. So, what’s your ever favourite photo you took?” He laughed at my not-at-all-smooth subject change.

“I think it’s probably one from our shoot this morning, the contrast was absolutely amazing, with the dark castle and your red dress. Also, you’re in it, and you’re gorgeous. So that has probably made for an amazing shoot. I haven’t looked at the photos though, so I don’t know for sure. But I think there’ll be my favourite.”

“Why did you ask me to go on that shoot with you, the first one we did? You said you could just picture me there, but was that really the reason?”

“Yes and no, it was one of the reasons. Another was that I really wanted to get you alone. I could see there was so much you were hiding and I just wanted to help you. I knew though that you wouldn’t talk about it with everyone there, so I came up with the idea of a shoot to get you alone. Also, I was maybe a little attracted to you and I wanted to know if maybe something could blossom between us. But you talked about Veronica quite a bit, so I figured you weren’t into me, so I let it go. You also opened up though, so that part of me asking you to come with me, worked. I got to know you better.”

“I talked about Veronica a lot to hide my own feelings, as I knew she was into you and I didn’t want to steal that from her. I already told you about that dream I had about you, I might’ve been attracted to you since the first day I saw you, or maybe even before that.” I admitted.

“I honestly didn’t know. You’re good at hiding your feelings, aren’t you?”

“It’s what I’ve been doing my entire life, so I guess so.”

“It’s a shame though, that you felt like you had to. Everybody should feel free to express their feelings, all of them.”

“Not in my family. Now I have you though.” I grabbed his hand, the one that was around my shoulders.

“I’m glad to hear you feel safe enough with me to express your feelings.” He kissed my head again. Then I suddenly realized we were walking quite slowly and everybody else was already way ahead.

“We should hurry, before we lose sight of them.” I said. Jughead shook his head.

“Guys! Wait up!” He shouted. Fangs looked behind him, or at least I thought it was Fangs. Then the group stopped walking and we caught up.

“You love birds forgot about the group for a second?” Cheryl teased.

“We were caught up in our own conversation, sorry. Shall we head back though? I’m kinda getting cold.”

“If I’d been wearing my Sherpa, I would’ve given it to you.” Jughead said and I smiled at him, as a way of saying ‘thank you’.

“Yeah, we’re already heading back. The path made a turn somewhere behind us, we’ll be back at my house in about 20 minutes or so.” Kevin said. I hadn’t noticed the turn.

“Good, I’m hungry.” Jughead said.

“Aren’t you always though?” Toni said.

“Touché.” We continued walking then, Jughead and I walked next to Toni. We got to know each other a bit more. Even though Toni had been a part of our group for quite a while now, I realized I didn’t know much about her. After 20 minutes, we arrived at Kevin’s again, just as he’d predicted. We went inside and Kevin ordered some pizzas. We sat down in the living room, in front of the TV. Reggie, Veronica, Fangs and Kevin were quick to claim the couch, Jughead sat down on an armchair. Toni and Cheryl sat down on the love seat. I could choose whether I wanted to join on the couch or cosy up with Jughead on the chair, but the latter would cause many people to comment on us being cute or complaining. I decided I didn’t care about everyone else and sat down on Jughead’s lap, resting my head on his shoulder. He instantly wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. To my surprise, no one commented on it.

“So, what movie are we gonna watch?” Kevin asked.

“There’s this movie on Netflix, The Kissing Booth. I’m curious about that one.” Toni said.

“What kind of movie is it?” Reggie asked.

“A teen movie, with a high school romance and everything.”

“We really gonna watch it?” Reggie said.

“It’ll be fun.” Cheryl said. Kevin started Netflix and played the movie. 5 minutes in, the bell rang for the pizzas. So Kevin paused the movie and went to the door to get them. When he got back, Jughead shifted his position so that we were both sitting up and able to eat a pizza. When we all had our pizza, Kevin pressed play on the movie again. It was quite a fun movie, a real feel-good one. After I’d eaten half of my pizza, I was full and gave Jughead my other half, which he gladly ate too. When the movie ended, Kevin played the next one. I wasn’t really paying attention anymore though, I was watching Jughead. He didn’t realize I was looking at him until halfway in the movie. Then he suddenly looked back at me, questioningly. I smiled to let him know everything was okay, that I was happy. He then stroked my cheek tenderly and I rested my head in his hand. Then I turned my face and pressed a kiss on his palm, which still tasted a bit like pizza.

“Betty! Jughead! You’re distracting me! Either watch the movie or go be cute somewhere else.” Veronica giggled. My face got all red again and I focused my attention on the screen. Because I’d missed the beginning of the movie, or more like the first half, I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t mean to be so intimate or close with Jughead when everyone could watch, but when moments like these happened, I couldn’t help myself. I just forgot about the world around me and felt like it was only me and Jughead. I should try more to be less affectionate with him in public, I’d feel awkward if Veronica and Reggie would constantly kiss or hug or something. When this movie also ended, Kevin and Fangs went into the kitchen to put away the boxes of the pizza and get some new snacks. Jughead could obviously already eat again, but I was still quite full with pizza. He made me eat two cookies though, which were good. We started talking about anything and everything then, until around midnight. Then we got ready for bed, wishing everyone goodnight. When we were ready for bed, Jughead and I went into our room, with one single bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel really bad mentally, but I thought it'd be nice if I would upload a new chapter. I really hope there are some people out there who love my story, because I'm slowly starting to think it's actually really bad :) So I hope I'm still posting this because it makes people happy, but I totally understand if you don't like it. Just let me know in the comments, either way I guess:)  
The next chapter is also a lot Bughead, but in chapter 18 something will happen that'll throw Betty's world upside down, so stay tuned :)


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the first scene, I don't know how to write that stuff lol  
I personally do quite like the rest of this chapter, but let me know what you thought in the comments :)  
Also, a little therapy session for Betty in this chapter (: (Jughead knows a lot)

When we walked into our room and closed the door behind us, I suddenly got really nervous. I was going to give Jughead his gift now, but I was scared he would think it was too soon and he wouldn’t say it back. Not that I actually said it, but I kinda did. Our pyjamas matched, unintentionally. We were both wearing a tank top, mine was light pink and his was white though, and black sweatpants. Jughead hugged me from behind and must’ve sensed my nervousness.

“Are you nervous?”

“Kinda.”

“I’m not expecting anything to happen tonight, if that’s what you’re scared of.”

“No, it’s not, I know you know I’m not quite ready yet.”

“Then what is it? Did something happen?” He sounded worried.

“No, nothing happened. I’m about to do something which I’m very nervous about.”

“Will I get to know what it is?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“A gift, for you.”

“Are you afraid I won’t like it?”

“Kinda. Not really though. Give me a second, I’m going to work up some courage.” I stepped away from him, to the bag Veronica had left in the room with my present in it. I got it out, took a deep breath and turned around to face him. “This is for you. I mean it, I truly do.” He was a bit confused, but took the gift and started unwrapping it. I bit my lip and looked at the ground, not wanting to see his reaction. With every second, my nervousness doubled. It got to the point that I was actually trembling, which I tried to stop, but I couldn’t.

“Betty…” Jughead whispered. When I didn’t look up, he put his hand under my chin and lifted my face, forcing me to look at him. He looked into my eyes until I was a little bit calmer. Then he spoke. “I love you too.” I couldn’t help the little squeak that escaped my mouth and I threw my arms around him. He hugged me back. “What were you so afraid of?”

“That you’d think it was too soon or that you wouldn’t feel the same way.”

“How could you think that though?” He wasn’t mad, just curious.

“Because you never said it before.”

“I didn’t say it because I didn’t want you to feel like you had to say it back. I was waiting for you to say it first, so you wouldn’t be forced into it.” Just as Veronica had predicted.

“I love you, Jughead Jones.” I said, and it felt good. He pressed his lips against mine, tender at first. When my hands tangled in his hair though, we both got more eager. He started walking until the back of my knees hit the bed. He dropped the teddy bear on the bed and then turned us around, sitting down on the bed himself and pulling me on his lap. Now that his hands weren’t holding the bear anymore, one of them went into my hair and the other cupped my neck. 

He deepened the kiss, and I was eager to as well. I wanted to be as close to him as I could, without removing any clothing. So I pushed him down on the bed and laid on top of him. I could feel his surprise when I did, but that changed into eagerness quickly. Then he somehow managed to roll over, so he was on top of me, without falling off of the bed. 

Then he slowly started moving the hand that was cupping my neck down, over my shoulders and stopping on my side, just below my breast. Then he moved his hand slowly towards my breast, so slowly that I could make clear to him if I didn’t want it. I wasn’t sure though whether I wanted it or not, it was both scary and exciting. I somewhat unconsciously decided it was okay. 

When his thumb stroke the underside of my breast through the fabric, I was glad I allowed him to. I moaned into his mouth with pleasure. He took that as approval, and kept stroking the underside of my breast with his thumb. He rolled so that he was lying next to me rather than on top of me and slowly moved his entire hand over my breast. Then my chest arched up to his hand, which I didn’t know it could. My body was doing things I didn’t necessarily want it to do, but also I didn’t mind. 

He pulled away from our kiss then to look at my face, to see if I was okay. I hungrily bit my lip and he started softly massaging my breast. It felt like nothing else, it was amazing. No one had ever touched me like this before and just like everything, it was both scary and excited. I wasn’t wearing a bra, so all that was between his hand and my skin was my tank top, but I was grateful it was still there. After a minute, he pulled his hand away and kissed me again.

“Are you okay?” He whispered against my lips.

“That was amazing.” I replied and then I deepened our kiss again. I was surprised once again when my hands suddenly started pulling on his tank top, I didn’t consciously decide that I wanted his top off. He allowed me to pull it off though, and I didn’t mind it being off. His stomach was flat and beautiful. I splayed my fingers out on his bare chest, which was quite hot. He suddenly softly growled and started kissing me urgently. When he moved half on top of me, I felt something pushing through his pants, at hip height. When I realized it must be his dick, I felt sorry for not being able to give him what his body was longing for at the moment.

“Sorry.” I mumbled. He pulled away a bit.

“What for?”

“For not being able to give you what you probably want right now.” He pulled away further.

“Betty. My body is saying other things than my mind, because I can’t control what my body does. All my mind wants right now is to kiss you. The fact that my body wants other things, doesn’t matter to me.”

“I don’t believe you, you can’t tell me you don’t want to have sex now. You won’t act on it, but it’s on your mind for sure.” He sighed.

“Okay, fine. Yes, it’s on my mind. But I don’t mind that we’re not doing that yet. I love you, and because of that I’m willing to wait until you’re ready. Really, it’s okay.” He was being so patient with me. As a reward, I pressed my lips against his again. My hands moved into his hair once again and I deepened the kiss. At first, we were both a bit hesitant because of our conversation, but that faded away quickly. One of my hands started tracing lines on his chest and stomach, which made him moan a bit. I liked that I was the one who let him experience this pleasure. 

He didn’t touch me again though, not in the way he had before. I didn’t mind, I was afraid it would be too much anyway if he would again. We made out for like an hour or so, sometimes we’d break apart to catch our breath. When we did, he continued kissing my neck or collarbone, which felt amazing. He didn’t give me any more love bites though, which I was grateful for. When I was really tired, I pulled away from him.

“I’m tired.” I whispered.

“Then we’re going to sleep.” He said. He got his top from the ground and put it back on. “I don’t want to be cold tonight.” He explained. Then he wrapped his arms around me and I curled up against his chest.

“Goodnight Betts.” He whispered.

“Goodnight Juggy, thank you for tonight. I had a great time.”

“Me too.” He kissed my forehead once more and then I fell asleep quite quickly and peacefully.

When I woke up, I laid as still as I could, not wanting to wake up Jughead. I was super comfy in his arms. When I opened my eyes though to look at him, I saw that his eyes were already open. We smiled at each other and I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

“Good morning.” He murmured.

“Good morning.”

“How did you sleep?”

“Pretty good, actually. You?”

“Not very much, I spent most of the night looking at you. That sounds creepy, sorry.” He chuckled.

“Just a little.” I giggled. “Did I do something funny or were you just watching?”

“You talked a bit in the beginning, but after that you were completely quiet.”

“I don’t talk.” Polly used to tease me that I talk in my sleep, but I never believed her.

“Yes, you do.”

“What did I say?”

“Not really coherent things, you said ‘no’ a lot. I also heard quite a few ‘help’s’, you mentioned Veronica and you said my name once.”

“Just your name?”

“No.” I was surprised he didn’t instantly say what I had also said, as it was an obvious follow-up question.

“What else?”

“You said ‘Don’t leave me” and cried a little. You got very restless at that point, I almost woke you up. There was genuine fear on your face.” I looked down. I had actually dreamt that Jughead had left me, and for some reason I felt guilty about it. “Did you dream something?” I nodded. “What?”

“I dreamt you left me. And that my mom said ‘I told you so’ and my dream switched just as I was standing on the edge of a cliff. It was terrifying. I’m sorry.” I felt a tear rolling down my cheek, just because I was remembering it. He rubbed my back.

“Don’t be sorry, dreams are things that happen unconsciously, you don’t decide what you dream and what not. Just know Betty, that I’d never leave you. I couldn’t bring myself to do that, not ever.”

“Do you promise?” My voice trembled.

“I promise.” Then he squeezed me tight against him, kissing the top of my head. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

“Guys! Wake up, get dressed, I’m coming in!” Veronica shouted, as she threw the door open. I groaned. “Wake up, breakfast is ready. Thank god you guys are dressed, this would’ve been very awkward otherwise.”

“Veronica, get out.” Jughead grumbled. “Let us wake up in peace.”

“Didn’t you hear me? Breakfast is ready.” Jughead suddenly let go of me and sat up straight, making me almost fall of the bed. I quickly grabbed his arm to stay on and when he realized what was happening, he pulled me back on the bed.

“Sorry. Let’s get up Betts, breakfast is ready.” He was suddenly very eager to get up.

“I heard Veronica the first time already. We’ll be right down, V.” I said and she walked out the door again, giggling. When she was gone, Jughead got up and searched for his beanie. I quickly got up too and ran my fingers through his now loose and wild hair.

“What was that for?” He asked, surprised.

“Your hair is so soft and because of your beanie I rarely get to touch it.” I explained. His hair was really soft, like velvet. He rolled his eyes, but let me touch his hair anyway. Then someone called from downstairs that breakfast was getting cold, so he quickly put on his beanie, I put my hair in a ponytail and we went downstairs. We joined everyone at the table and Jughead instantly loaded his plate full. I ate one sandwich.

“So, how did you guys sleep?” Kevin asked, while he winked at us.

“Pretty good, actually.” I said, innocently.

“Wasn’t the bed way too small?”

“We were okay.” Jughead said.

“Well, I didn’t hear any moaning so I think they actually did sleep.” Veronica said, sounding a little disappointed. I looked at her, frowning.

“As if we’d do that.” I said, making a disgusted face, which made everyone laugh. After breakfast, we cleaned the kitchen together and then went back upstairs to get changed. As I was changing, Jughead was looking out the window and the other way around as well. When we were both ready, we went downstairs again. Everyone was sitting in the living room, so we sat down on the arm chair again.

“So, what’s next on the agenda?” Fangs asked.

“I didn’t necessarily have a plan, so suggestions are welcome.” Kevin said.

“We could do ‘Who’s most likely to’.” Toni suggested. “That way we’ll get to know each other a bit more as well.”

“Love that. So, we’ll just one after the other come up with a superlative and answer it together?” Kevin asked.

“Sounds good. Kevin, you start.” I said. He thought for a while.

“Who’s most likely to try to solve a murder?”

“Jughead.” I said, without thinking.

“Maybe… No, Jughead.” Veronica agreed, same as everyone else. Fangs was next to come up with one.

“Who’s most likely to burst out singing randomly?”

“Probably me.” Cheryl said.

“Yeah, Cheryl.” Toni agreed.

“Most of us like singing though.” Veronica said.

“Yeah, but Cheryl.” I said. Toni was next.

“Who’s most likely to date their best friend’s ex?” Right after she said it, she burst out laughing. Everyone joined her, but I rolled me eyes and looked away.

“I think we can all agree that’d be me.” I said, laughing along with everyone. I squeezed Jughead’s hand.

“Sorry Betty, I forgot for a second it was something that actually happened in this friend group.” Toni apologized.

“It’s okay Toni, I’m not ashamed of it or anything, it’s just the way it is.”

“Who’s most likely to have a one-night-stand?” Cheryl asked. I didn’t know about that one, so I waited for other people’s suggestions.

“Reggie.” Veronica said. He started tickling her. “Hey! You know I’m right!” Veronica said between giggles.

“Not anymore though, not now that I have you. I don’t cheat.” Reggie defended himself.

“I know. We’re all in a relationship, so I for sure hope no one will have a one-night-stand. But if you wouldn’t be in a relationship, you’d be most likely to.”

“Okay, fine.” Reggie surrendered. Veronica was next.

“Who’s most likely to have the most secrets?”

“Not me, that’s for sure.” Cheryl said.

“Probably Betty or Jughead.” Kevin said.

“Is this like, who do we know least about or just who probably keeps the most secrets?” Fangs asked.

“Who keeps the most secrets.” Veronica said.

“Then probably Betty or Jughead, yeah.”

“I’d say Jughead.” I said.

“Yeah, and I’m saying Betty.” Jughead replied.

“I think both of you.” Toni said.

“Let’s just leave it there, both Betty and Jughead.” Reggie said. He was next. “Who’s most likely to hook up in a public place?”

“Like, all the way or just a good make out session?” Veronica asked.

“Let me rephrase. Who’s most likely to make out in a public place?”

“My first instinct would be to say Veronica and Reggie, but I actually don’t think you guys would. So I’m gonna say Cheryl and Toni.” I said. I felt Jughead nod in agreement.

“Yeah, Reggie and I like to keeps things kinda private. So I agree with Betty.”

“I don’t think we can deny this, Cher.” Toni said.

“Nope, I don’t think so either.” Cheryl agreed.

“But let’s take a look at Betty and Jughead. They hug and kiss a lot when we’re around, so maybe them?” Kevin said. I shot him a disbelieving look, but giggled after it.

“No, Jug and I wouldn’t go that far in public. Cheryl and Toni for sure.”

“Okay, fine. Cheryl and Toni.” Kevin agreed. We played ‘Who’s most likely to’ for about an hour, then Toni had to go home. Cheryl went with her and Reggie was quick to follow as well. 

“Kev, is there anything we could help clean up or something? I don’t want to leave you with all the work.” I asked.

“That’s nice of you, Betty. It’d be a great help if you could take the sheets off of your bed? And maybe my parent’s too?”

“Sure, no problem. Jug, you coming?” I asked. He nodded and we got up to go upstairs. As we were taking the sheets off of our own bed, Jughead suddenly wrapped one of them around me, so I was like a burrito. Then he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. It was really weird to not be able to touch him as well, but I kissed him back anyway. My hands kept trying to move up, but they couldn’t. That made me laugh, so I pulled away from Jughead. He looked at me confused.

“My hands keep trying to touch you, but they can’t and I feel something like confusion and it’s really funny. Sorry.” I giggled. Jughead scoffed and unwrapped the sheet from around me, throwing it on the bed. Then he came back to me and kissed me again, this time my hands were able to move to his neck, to play with the hair there. It was a short, little, playful kiss, which was nice. Then he pulled away and we continued cleaning the bed. When we were done with our bed, we went to Kevin’s parent’s bed, taking the sheets off of it as well. We put all the sheets on a pile in the bathroom and went downstairs again.

“We put the sheets on a pile in the bathroom.” I told Kevin.

“Major thanks, guys. Veronica got a call from her mother and rushed home, I don’t know what’s going on. It seemed urgent, but for some reason didn’t feel like it, you know. Anyway, you guys want some lunch?”

“We’ve just had breakfast.” I said at the same time Jughead said:

“Always.” I rolled my eyes, but went to the kitchen anyway. Kevin made six sandwiches with eggs, one for Fangs, one for me, one for himself and three for Jughead. It made me smile to realize how well my friends knew my boyfriend, it made me happy. After we’d eaten the sandwiched, I had to go home as well.

“Kev, this was delicious and I had an amazing weekend, thank you. I have to go home now though, so I’ll see you tomorrow again!”

“You’re welcome, Betty. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Shall I drive you?” Jughead asked. I rolled my eyes and then nodded. He said bye to Fangs and Kevin and then we went outside, to the backyard. We walked to the front and Jughead gave me a helmet. He pulled the elastic out of my hair, as he always did. Then we got on and he drove me home. I still didn’t like his motorcycle, but I was very slowly getting used to it. As long as I closed my eyes and didn’t open them until we had arrived at our destination, it was okay. What I thought was cute was that he had put the teddy bear I’d given him in between his legs on the motorcycle, so ‘it could enjoy the view’. His words, not mine. When he pulled over in front of my house, I opened my eyes again.

“Will you stay for a while?” I asked him.

“Sure, if you like.”

“I’d love that.” I said. As we walked up to the front door, I noticed it seemed really quiet in the house. When we got to the front door, I found it locked, which surprised me. I unlocked the door and went inside.

“Mom? Dad? I’m home!” I shouted. No one replied. I looked at Jughead, who shrugged. “Nobody’s home.” I stated.

“Did they say anything?”

“No. What time is it?”

“It’s 1:45pm.” I sighed. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Mom asked me, before we left, around what time I’d be home. I told her around 3, to which she replied with something like ‘okay good’. We’re home early. My family probably went out together once again, without me.”

“Or they went to the grocery store.”

“All together, for sure. No Jughead, they went away to somewhere nice to have fun together without me. That’s the sad truth.”

“I can’t believe they’d do that.”

“It’s not the first time though, when we had that sleepover at Veronica’s they also went away. Only that time they told me and this time they didn’t.”

“You don’t seem sad about it.”

“As sad as it might be, it’s not something new. My family shutting me out, I mean. I’ve always been kinda the black sheep in the family. I’m used to it, you know. I also kinda felt it coming, because my mom asked when I’d be home. At the time though, I didn’t think twice about it. Now that I think about it again, I could’ve known.”

“It’s still sad though. Family should be there for each other, not shut each other out.”

“Guess both our families don’t know how family works then.”

“Guess not. One more thing for us to have in common.”

“I wish it weren’t those sad things though.”

“Me too. Well, at least now we have each other.” He wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. As I hugged him back, I sighed.

“What is wrong with me, Jug? Why is my family going away on the weekends when I’m gone?”

“It’s nothing to do with you, Betty. Your parents are the ones who are wrong in this case, not you. You are amazing.”

“So amazing that they don’t want me when they’re having fun.”

“Hey, they’re the ones who are missing out.”

“Then why doesn’t it feel that way?”

“Because you’ve been raised and taught to think badly of yourself. You were raised with the thought you were never enough, not smart enough, not beautiful enough, not skinny enough. Those things made you to who you are today, every cell in your body believes those things. But it’s not your fault.”

“But what if it is?”

“How? How can this be your fault?”

“If I had been more like my mom wanted me to be, wouldn’t she have wanted me on the family trips?”

“Ask yourself this one question, Betty. Would you rather be you and pay the price for that or be someone you’re not, but then you will be invited to everything? Would you rather be you and be around people who accept you as you are, or be someone you’re not and be “accepted” by people who won’t let you be yourself?”

“I want both, I wanna be me and I want it to be enough.” I felt a tear rolling down my cheek.

“Enough for who?”

“For my mom.”

“And then what? Then your mom loves you because you are exactly how she wants you to be, but you’ve lost yourself. A person’s happiness is something only they can create, you can never be someone else’s happiness.”

“You make me happy though.”

“True, but as long as you hate yourself, you’ll never be fully content. Right now, you’re living off of my love for you, where you should live off of the love you feel for yourself. That’s a process that’ll take some time, but it’s the only way you can be happy.”

“How can I do that though?”

“That’s… a hard question. There’s no recipe to find happiness, everyone has their own way to find it. One ingredient everybody needs though, is time. Happiness is not something you find in a matter of seconds, neither is it something that’s just suddenly there. As you grow older, you slowly start to find it, and from that moment on it keeps growing bigger and bigger.”

“How did you become so wise?”

“I read a lot. It may sound like I’ve got everything figured out, but I’m just as in the dark as you are. All teenagers are. People our age don’t know anything.”

“What’s most frustrating to me though, is that everything sounds so easy. But when you try to do it, it’s extremely hard.”

“I have another one of those extremely annoying lines people often say. ‘The only person standing in your way to find your happiness, is yourself’. Most people think it works when they say it, but in fact it makes most people more miserable. Why would they block themselves from happiness? Sadly though, it is true.”

“I know. Everything I struggle with, is in my head.”

“Not everything, but most of it.”

“You know, sometimes I’m just done trying. Trying to be perfect, trying to do the right thing. Then I just want to go off on my own and do nothing and everything at the same time, just leave my life behind and start over.”

“When life gets hard for you, what do you do?”

“I usually ignore my own problems and start focusing on other people. Helping other people solve their problems, helps me. Or at least, that’s what I tell myself.”

“So when you don’t want to or can’t deal with your own problems, you focus on someone else’s problems.”

“Exactly. I tend to avoid my own problems.”

“Do you take yourself serious?”

“In what way?”

“When you feel bad about something, or just bad in general, do you take yourself serious in that or do you usually tell yourself it’s nothing?”

“I usually feel like I’m overreacting, like there’s always someone who has a harder life than me or that there’s always something worse that could happen. So I don’t think I take myself seriously.”

“That’s what I used to do too, I used to play down everything I felt. It could always be worse, you know. I should just man up and forget about it. Later I learned though, the more you keep bottled up, the more trouble it’ll give you later in life. Comparing yourself to others has never made anyone feel better. In fact, it usually makes you feel worse about yourself. You start blaming yourself for everything that’s happening, when most of the time, it’s not your fault. So I want to give you an advice, to help you, hopefully, maybe, on your journey of finding happiness. Please try to take yourself serious when you feel bad. It doesn’t matter what someone else is going through, this is your problem and for you it’s something big. Will you do that? For me?” Throughout his speech, I’d started to cry. Everything he was saying was so true and really hit home.

“I’ll try.” I sobbed. He rubbed my back. We were still standing like that when suddenly the door opened and my mom walked inside, followed by my dad and siblings. I stepped away from Jughead and wiped my eyes. My mom was surprised.

“Betty. You’re home early.”

“Where were you?” I asked, no emotion in my voice.

“We were shopping.”

“Don’t lie mom, please.”

“I’m not lying. Yesterday we went to New York to do some shopping, we stayed in a hotel and drove back this morning.”

“So you went on another family trip the weekend I was away. Plus, you didn’t mention anything, not even when I asked. Thank you mom, it’s nice to know I matter to you.” I said and then I pulled Jughead with me upstairs, not allowing my mom to reply. She called after me, but I kept walking. Once we were in my room, I shut the door behind us.

“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you at first.”

“Don’t be, you were trying to be optimistic. The fact they went away without me is not even the worst part, it’s the fact that mom didn’t tell me, she didn’t want me to know I was missing out. She wanted to do this behind my back so I wouldn’t know I had a fun family. Gee, Jug, how can I stay here? No one wants me here, otherwise someone would’ve said something or would’ve stayed home, right?”

“Didn’t you say Charles was on your side again?”

“I thought so, but he went on this trip without me as well. I can’t stay here.”

“Then come with me.”

“Where to? You live in the drive-in, there’s barely enough room for just you. I’m not dragging you into this mess.”

“Not your mess, our mess. We are together, we love each other. That means we’re sharing every burden, every laughter, every cry.” He pulled me down in my bed next to him. “From now on, we’re partners. We’re sharing everything, good moments, bad moments, intimate moments, small moments, all of it. Okay?” He said, as he put his beanie on my head. I swallowed and then nodded. I leaned in for a kiss and he met me halfway. When I kissed him, I felt stronger. I felt that I wasn’t alone and that he was strong enough to deal with me and my problems.

“I love you.” I whispered.

“I love you too.” I gave him one more hug and then got up to pack a bag. I packed my school stuff, some clothes and then wrote a note.

'Dear family. I get a feeling you don’t necessarily want me around, so I’m staying over at someone else’s place. Don’t bother looking for me, I’m not coming home until I feel like it. I will eventually return and I’m also still going to school, obviously. I’m just gonna leave you alone for a while, so you don’t have to wait until I’m away for the weekend to plan a family weekend, you can just do it whenever you want. Have fun together.'

I put it on my made bed and then opened my window. We were lucky, the ladder was still under it. I slung my bag over my shoulder and climbed down, followed by Jughead. When we were on the ground, we raced to his bike and drove away as quickly as we could, so we hopefully weren’t seen, but more importantly, so no one could stop us. He drove straight to the drive-in, where we got off and went inside. 

I gasped as he opened the door, the little film room was turned into a living room and bedroom in one. There were stacks of film rolls against three walls, against the other one was a bed. Above the bed were a few shelves with one photo and for the rest books, both for school and for pleasure. I walked closer to look at the photo.

“Who are these two? Is it you and your sister?” I recognised a young Jughead, some of his features. He was standing in front of a drive-in, but not this one. Next to him was a little girl, they were hugging and smiled at the camera. I looked at Jughead.

“Yeah, that’s me and Jellybean. I think I was about 8 in that photo.” He sounded a bit sad.

“You really miss her, don’t you?”

“I do, more so every day.”

“I hope you’ll find her again one day.” I said, putting down my bag. I walked to him and hugged him. Then my phone rang. When I looked on the screen, I saw it was my mom. I declined her call and saw that I had about 10 texts, all from her. She was pissed that I’d left, she said I was overreacting. When I looked at Jughead, he was shaking his head.

“Don’t listen to her, Betts. You made the right choice getting out of there for a while, she’ll either see that or she won’t, there’s nothing she can do now.”

“She also won’t be able to find me, no one will come looking for me here.”

“And if someone does find you, I’ll protect you.” He kissed my forehead.

“Thank you, Juggy. For letting me stay here, for protecting me, for always being here for me. I appreciate it very much.”

“You’re very welcome, Betts.”

“Know that you can always come to me with anything.”

“I know.” He smiled at me. “So, do you wanna go get take-out from Pop’s? Maybe just some cheese fries?”

“Sure. I’m staying here though.” He nodded, gave me a quick kiss and then went out to go to Pop’s. When he was gone, I called Veronica.

“Hey B! What’s up?”

“Hey, V. I did something crazy.”

“What did you do?”

“I left home, like, for a longer period of time. I’m staying over at Jughead’s.”

“Oh my god! What made you leave?”

“My family went away to New York for the weekend without telling me. And it wasn’t something they decided on a whim, they had planned it. They intentionally went away without me. Jughead was there when I found out and offered to let me stay at his place.”

“That’s terrible, I’m so sorry, B.”

“Thanks.”

“So, how is Jughead’s place? I’ve never been there.”

“Well, it’s complicated. I don’t know if I can tell you, to be honest.”

“That sounds mysterious. Are you okay and happy there though?”

“I am.”

“Then Veronica Lodge approves.”

“Thanks, V.” I laughed. “Are you coming to the drive-in tonight?”

“Wasn’t planning on it, why?”

“I’ll be there, and I’d love some company.”

“Can’t you ask Jughead?”

“He’s working there tonight.”

“Right, I forgot. Don’t you wanna watch with him though? Like, you’ll be in that little room?”

“I don’t know if I’m allowed to.”

“It’s not like anyone ever comes there.”

“True. But we haven’t seen a movie together in ages, I thought maybe tonight?”

“If you like that, B, I’ll be there. What time?”

“I think 9, but I’ll have to ask Jughead. I’ll text you and I’ll meet you there, okay?”

“Sure. Do you know what movie is playing?”

“I honestly have no idea. Probably something with a serial killer, as Jug gets to pick the movie on Sunday’s.”

“As long as it’s no horror, I’m happy.”

“It’s probably a thriller.”

“Shit.”

“I’ll tell him you’re coming, maybe he’ll change his mind.”

“Jughead and changing his mind, don’t think that’ll happen.”

“Speak of the devil. I gotta go, V. See you tonight!”

“See you tonight!” I hung up the second Jughead opened the door.

“Who were you calling with? Not your mom, right?”

“No, it was Veronica. I’m not talking to my mom.”

“You hungry?”

“A little.”

“Good. If you’d been very hungry, we wouldn’t have enough.” He opened the bag and pulled out a large box of fries. I cocked my head to the side and rolled my eyes. Then we both laughed. We sat down on the bed and started eating the cheese fries, which were delicious.

“Seeing as you don’t have an oven or even a fridge, where or how do you eat?”

“At Pop’s, always.”

“Then how come you aren’t broke?”

“Pop gives me a discount. When I was with the Serpents, they used to rob Pop’s often, like once a week. I made them stop, which Pop was extremely grateful for. When I told him my situation, he said I’d get a discount. I helped him, he’s helping me. I do sometimes feel bad about it though, I eat so much from there that his favor is only growing bigger whereas mine is not that big.”

“Does Pop know everything about you?”

“Most of it. He was the person who knew most about me, until I met you. Pop’s just easy to talk to, he’s a great listener and doesn’t judge. Kinda like you.” I smiled.

“Maybe you could talk to Pop about this feeling, maybe he has a solution.”

“That’s what I want to do, but I’m afraid that if I do so, he’ll take back the discount. When he does, I’ll starve, which will make him feel guilty and then we’re back where we started.”

“Maybe you could work for him in the summer, for free. As a way to repay your debt. That’s what I used to do when I often ran away from home after a fight, Pop let me eat for free and I worked for him for free.”

“That’s not such a bad idea, I might ask him if that’s okay.”

“He can always use the help, especially in summer.”

“Betty, you’re a genius.”

“Thanks.” When we’d finished the cheese fries, I remembered the conversation I had with Veronica.

“Jug?”

“Hmm?”

“Veronica and I will be watching to movie together tonight, but we were wondering what time is starts?”

“At 9.”

“Then I remembered that correctly. And what movie are you playing?”

“Dismissed, a thriller.”

“Will Veronica be able to sleep afterwards?”

“Probably.” He smirked.

“She’ll kill you if she can’t.”

“I know. But I’m not afraid of Veronica.” I texted Veronica this information and then Jughead and I talked about anything and everything, until it was 15 more minutes until the movie began. I went outside to wait for Veronica and Jughead got everything ready. Veronica was just in time and we sat down in her car. Veronica got scared quite a few times throughout the movie, but not terribly. The lead actor looked quite a bit like Jughead, only he had blond hair and of course no beanie. After the movie ended, I said bye to Veronica and when everyone had left, I went back inside. Jughead was still putting everything away. I just watched him.

“I’m done here, now I’m going out on the parking lot to clean up some trash. You can change though and go to bed, I’ll be back in like 30 minutes.” I nodded and he gave me a quick kiss before heading outside. I changed into my pyjamas and laid down in his bed. Even though it was a small place, the bed was relatively big. There would be enough room for both of us without us necessarily having to cuddle up. I was listening to all the sounds coming from outside, as I waited for Jughead. About 20 minutes after Jughead had gone outside, I suddenly heard some screaming. I heard three voices, one of them was Jughead. I couldn’t hear what they were saying though. I got out of bed, put on his Sherpa and went outside. The screaming had stopped before I’d gotten out of the booth, but I went to look for Jughead anyway. When I saw him, he was rubbing his face.

“Jug! What happened? I heard screaming.”

“It were two Serpents.” When I was close to him, I saw he had a little bit of blood dripping down his cheek.

“Oh my god Jug! What did they do?”

“They hit me. Nothing serious though, don’t worry about it.” There was a cut of about one inch big, blood dripping out of it.

“How’d they hit you, if you have a cut? Usually you’d just get a bruise, right?”

“They have those metal knuckle things, they cause cuts. I’m okay though, go back inside before you catch a cold. They’re gone now, I’ll be right inside.” I nodded, knowing to object wouldn’t make a difference. I walked back to the booth and laid down in bed again. 15 minutes later, Jughead came in too. He changed into his pyjamas and laid down next to me. He wrapped one arm around me.

“Are you okay? Considering everything that’s going on right now?” He asked.

“I’m surviving, cause you’re here with me.” I kissed him, just a short kiss though. “I hope my mom doesn’t come to school tomorrow.”

“Me too. I don’t think she will though. If she does, I’ll protect you.” He promised.

“I do really feel safe with you, so thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Goodnight, Betts.”

“Goodnight, Juggy.” This time we both fell asleep quite quickly.


End file.
